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Stage report

Team Ford Racing finishes seventh on Dakar stage 5

The Ford crew continues to race in the toughest rally in the world.

#308 Ford: Lucio Alvarez, Bernardo Graue

#308 Ford: Lucio Alvarez, Bernardo Graue

Ford Motor Company

TUCUMÁN, ARGENTINA, 9 January 2014 – It was an encouraging turn of fortunes for Team Ford Racing today when Argentines Lucio Alvarez and Ronnie Graue (308) powered their Ranger to the seventh fastest time on stage five of the Dakar Rally, from Chilecito to Tucumán.

#308 Ford: Lucio Alvarez, Bernardo Graue
#308 Ford: Lucio Alvarez, Bernardo Graue

Photo by: Ford Motor Company

The organisers cut the second part of the special stage short by approximately 100 km due to safety concerns as temperatures soared to over 47 degrees in the Sierra Hombre Muerto mountains.

Nevertheless Alvarez and Graue continued the solid run from yesterday and notched up an impressive result over the undulating and sandy route which was shortened to 317 km – despite losing approximately 20 minutes searching for an errant waypoint, along with many of the other front-runners.

They were also hampered by a rear brake problem that presented itself 20 km into the stage, along with the thick dust that has become a common theme on this year’s event.

Accordingly their time of 4 hr 52 m 46 sec put them in the top echelon in 7th place for the day, a mere 1 min 50 sec behind five-time Dakar winner in the car category, Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean Paul Cottret (MINI).

The stage was won by overall race leaders Nani Roma/Michel Perin (MINI) with a time of 4 hr 27 min 01 sec. Overall the Ford crew has climbed to 45th in the standings.

Team Ford Racing

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