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All the Argentine action courtesy Tereasury One

DAKAR 2018 DAY 11 LIVE - Wednesday 17 January: Belén to Chilecito, Argentina
Bikes start 12h30 SA time; cars 12h030
Today's stage: 485km, Special: 280km. Altitude 1400-2600m ASL
Come back here to follow the action as it unfolds today

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18h30 Day's Report
TIGHTENING THE GRIP
Peugeot, KTM set to extend Dakar domination?

Dakar 2018 is entering the final straight and while there is still 1000km of racing still to come including an evil sting in the tail, it seems that the modern giants of the epic race through South America are set to extend their runs of success. None of them may have won on Wednesday’s eleventh day, but the overall leaders now have an iron grip on the race, as do a South African car crew who have taken control of the rookie race this year.

Carlos Sainz cruised home in third Wednesday, Peugeot’s Spanish hero followed Dutchman Bernhard ten Brinke home as the Toyota South Africa driver stormed to his first ever Dakar stage win over Cyril Despres’ Peugeot. Sainz was just ten seconds ahead of his closest challenger overall, Stephane Peterhansel in the other Peugeot on the day, while Peterhansel in turn put a few more minutes on third placed overall Nasser Al Attiyah, who ended fifth on the day for Toyota, ahead of South African teammate Giniel de Villiers.

The results did little bar consolidate Sainz, Peterhansel and Peugeot’s grip on the overall car race, but the man in fourth overall ten Brinke, took more than half of the gap out of his teammate Al Attiah to move to within 3 minutes of the Qatari driver. That laves the three Toyotas covered by all of 15 minutes in their in-house fight for third overall. 

So the Peugeots seem set for a swansong hat trick on their last Dakar for now, but there’s still 1000km of racing left over three days. and stranger things have happened.…

Wednesday’s strange starting order means that several cars were still in the stage, including intrepid South African Dakar debutants, Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte’s TreasuryOne Amarok running well in 26th. The TreasuryOne duo moved into a strong lead in the car rookie race on Tuesday and that team is now focussed on bringing their Ford V8-powered Volkswagen home to the finish at Cordoba come Saturday

The day’s odd start timing meant that most of the leading motorcycles were also still racing when overall leader, Austrian KTM rider Matthias Walkner had competed the stage and the thee quickest bikes arrived some time later with Aussie Toby Price taking the day for KTM ahead  of Honda’s Kevin Benavides and Antoine Meo on another KTM. Walkner stil eads Benavides by 32 minutes with Price 9 minutes behind the Honda man

South African bikers David Thomas, Donovan van de Langeberg, Willem du Toit and still the last man standing, Gerry van der Byl were all well into today’s stage as we wrote.

With three days to race, Thursday’s 375km 12th stage from Chilecito to San Juan forms the first half of Dakar’s 800km sting in the tail final marathon stage with no servicing allowed overnight Thursday. And judging by the drama of the last marathon stage over the weekend, this monster could very well still change everything. 



17h25 bikes: Today's stage results will be confusing for now so we need to wait an hour or two for a the fast machines to arrive, but while Walkner is safely home, Price was leading the timing sheets from Benavides, Meo and Brabec.

17h20 cars Ten Brinke is today's provisional winner  four minutes clear of Despres, Sainz and Peterhansel, Al Attiyah and de Villiers

16h50 cars The race id back on as Ten Brinke leads the way tp the finish....

16h15 cars The leaders are in today's neutralisation zone with ten Brinke storming in 2 minutes ahead of Sainz  with Attiyah a minute further back and then Peterhansel, Despres and de Villiers. Hirvonen seems to be in trouble...

15h00 bikes Enough machines have now passed WP2 to give a better picture of today's order as Price leads Quintanilla, Benavides and Aubert with leader Walkner cruising in fifth.

14h55 cars De Villiers seems struggling today, 6 minutes off the pace so far, but not as much as Peterhansel as de Villiers moves ahead of Mr Dakar at WP4. 

14h50 cars Ten Brinke moves ahead of Hirvonen - the gap is 13 seconds after WP3. Attiyah is a minute back and then there's a gap to Sainz in fourth with Peterhansel and de Villiers 4 minutes back in 7th and 8th, 

14h 10 bikes Pabo Quintanilla leads the bikes that have started so far ahead of GasGas rider Aubert, race leader Walkner and Farres Guell 

14h00 cars With the main players al now through WP2, Hirvonen is giving Mini a little well-earned time in the spotlight as he leads ten Brinke by 17 sec, Al Attiyah by 25 sec and Sainz by a minute, while Peterhansel and de Villiers within 35 seconds of the overall leader. Only ten cars are running along the bikes today, with the rest only due to start in an hour's time...

13h45 bikes Quintanilla is quickest so far through WP1 from Walkner and Guell but with large startline gaps between the bikes today as they share the stage with the cars and many of the faster machines starting well back after yesterday's challenges, it will take a while for the day's real story to emerge... 

13h40 cars Now Mikko Hirvonen has put the Mini buggy fastest at CP1 ahead of Al Attiyah and ten Brinke, who provisionally leads Sainz, by a minute with Peterhansel and de Villiers in close attendance after WP2

13h35 cars A little more info on South African crew Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte, who have moved into the TreasuryOne Amarok into lead of the Dakar car rookie race. The duo was four hours behind in second yesterday but closest rivals Aldonodo and Valejjo took their turn to have trouble yesterday  and lost several hours while also picking up four hours of penalties. De Klerk and Schutte now have a handy six hour lead over the Ssangyong men. Only five of the 17 car rookie starters are still in the running...

13h30 cars Ten Brinke is now quickest at WP1 as he opens the gap over Giniel de Villiers but Giniel had a good run to WP2 ro close up to 23 seconds behind Sainz who now leads Peterhansel by 17 seconds

13h15 cars Peterhansel provisionally leads Sainz by 6 seconds, Al Qassimi and de Villiers at WP1

13h00 all While car man Stéphane Peterhansel was first away on today's special, the second machine away was bike leader Matthias Walkner with cars and bikes mixed up this morning...

12h55 cars Of the South African competitors, Giniel de Villiers of course lies fifth, mere seconds behind teammate Ten Brinke and 10 minutes behind Al Attiyah in the other Toyota SA Hilux, while Robert Howie navigating for Argentine local hero Lucio Alvares sit 11th overall and an hour behind a top ten slot. Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte are now officially the leading car rookies in  30th overall.

12h50 cars TreasuryOne duo Hennie de Kerk and Gerhard Schutte are delighted to still be in the running this was their Wednesday story

12h50 bikes SA riders, David Thomas is 43rd overall, Donovan van de Langeberg 53rd, Willem du Toit 56th and Gerry van der Byl still hanging in there - he's the ;ast man standing in the bikes in 93rd overall!

12h40 all Catch up with all yesterday's dramatic action here

12h30 all  its an early for Wednesday’s 280km 11th racing stage with the cars and bikes about to set off on the run from Belén to Chilecito along the Andean escarpment via Fiambalá, but the weather should wase the going with cool temperatures and light rain predicted to keep sand imore pliant than it was in yesterday's punishing 43C conditions

ENDS

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