Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Stage victory for Peterhansel Despres New Silk Way Rally leader after Loeb hits trouble
july 17, 2017 - Peugeot

Stage victory for Peterhansel Despres New Silk Way Rally leader after Loeb hits trouble

There was drama for #teampeugeottotal on the ninth stage of the #silkwayrally as #sebastienloeb crashed out of the lead while holding an advantage of more than an hour in the #peugeotdkrmaxi. The day had already got off to a difficult start when a wrong timing plan for the road section meant that the entire field began the 421-kilometre stage 40 minutes late. When Loeb’s accident happened, he was running parallel to the dry river bed that formed the main part of the route, as the surface of it was extremely rough and cut up. Unfortunately, Loeb hit a drain just to the right of the river bed at kilometre 82, which tripped him over and badly damaged the front of the car. Eventually, Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena were able to repair the car to the point where it could be driven, but the fix took any hour and a half. With the chassis and cockpit cell badly affected, the French duo had to stop again at kilometre 172. At the time of writing, they had yet to complete the stage. Whatever happens, this means that Cyril Despres has taken the lead of the event that he won last year. There were no major problems for him or his team mate Stephane Peterhansel throughout today’s action, which was characterized by both sand and rocky roads. Peterhansel was the stage winner as he continues his fightback up the leaderboard in seventh position overall. 

More information on the press release