Day 13 – San Juan to Cordoba (678km; timed special 555km)
“The task today was to try to make a good leg and the only way to do that was by attacking. We knew after the problems we have had over the past couple of days we needed to go out and find our rhythm again.
“Because of yesterday’s result, we were the fourteenth car on the stage today so we had lots of overtaking to do. Despite a rough start to the stage we managed to pass quite a few cars early on.
“Midway through the stage we had to ease off because of an overheating problem but once we put this right we were back on the attack.
“We were able to make up some more time in a very tricky muddy section that was no more than 10km long. It was after this passage that we caught up with one of the X-Raid BMW cars.
“We found it difficult to pass the BMW because we could not quite get close enough to press the sentinel but finally we managed to overtake. After working hard to make the pass we got a puncture so of course the BMW went in front of us once more.
“Once we got our speed back we overtook the BMW for a second time. After that we enjoyed a clear road with no dust blocking the view.
“The main objective of the day was not to let Stephane Peterhansel knock us off the podium and we achieved that. This stage victory is small consolation for the problems of the past few days.
“It's fantastic to have equalled Stephane’s record of 23 Dakar stage victories but that was not our goal for this rally. After another stage win I have to thank my mechanics for giving me a perfect car to drive today.
“Tomorrow we will see if Stephane or me can get a 24th stage victory to set a new record.”
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