Eric Vigouroux Racing: stage 6 completed

Salta, January 10, 2014 - It is with quite some relief that the competitors of the Dakar in 2014 arrived in Salta in Argentina with a well deserved rest day ahead, for men and machines. Indeed, this first week of the race has put an enormous strain on the competitors and the vehicles due to the very demanding terrain but also to the extreme heat which prevailed on the region since the start of the rally.

The time has come for all the teams to take some rest and to recuperate before tackling the second part of the rally. "You could not imagine more difficult circumstances to enter our new Chevrolet Colorado EVR VX -101 compete for the first time," explained Eric Vigouroux. "I do not remember having experienced such heat since the beginning of my career. This phenomenon adds an extra difficulty to the very competitive field, the length of the stages and the 'youth' of our cars so we had a very complicated task to perform. We just lived a week that we do not and will never forget!"

For EVR, the team has some mixed feelings. The ideal goal of finishing in the top 10 will not be met and the loss of the car of Guerlain Chicherit in a fire has been a very difficult episode. In contrast, the strong performance recorded in the third stage finishing 5th and crossing the CP1 the next stage in first place proved that the new Chevrolet Colorado EVR Proto VX- 101 is clearly in the game and can definitely be competitive.

Despite the difficulties, Eric Vigouroux is very optimistic about the future: "While we experienced bad things during this first week we know that our car has the potential to compete with the best cars. After Dakar we will get to work to improve the vehicle and find solutions for the technical problems we had. They can be resolved and that is what makes me very confident for the future! "

Due to the premature departure of Guerlain Chicherit, all the resources of the team are now focused on the 318 crew consisting of BJ Baldwin and Quinn Cody who participate in their first rally together. The vapor lock problems they encountered at the beginning of the rally has pushed them far back in the standings, making their progress very difficult because the tracks were in very bad condition after passing of many competitors, including the heavy trucks. Though the performances are not on the highest level yet the two men perform very regularly every day and deliver very important information about the behavior of the car.

Eric Vigouroux Racing