We started early in the morning, with today's stage without the motorcycle or quad categories, in memory of Paolo Gonçalves, who passed away yesterday. Our campsite departure time was 7:12 a.m., and as usual, we started a few minutes early to position ourselves in the departure order. When Albert starts it, he puts the gear in drive and the truck moves, but when he presses the accelerator, it doesn't react. The wires that provide the electrical signal from the potentiometer to the motor have been severed. Nervous, we call the mechanics, and they quickly start changing the potentiometer. The minutes pass, and departure time approaches. There's no time, so we grab the spare part, the half-assembled tools, and head off punctually to pick up the route card. They give us the go-ahead and a few meters away we stop so Marc can finish installing the new potentiometer. It took 18 minutes for Marc to finish the installation. We set off for the special stage checkpoint via a 130-km road link. Before arriving, we filled up as much fuel as possible in anticipation of high fuel consumption, given the information provided by the organization during yesterday's briefing. We've reached the checkpoint and we still have a few minutes left to evacuate, minor waters, before starting. We get the go-ahead and set off, but Albert's accelerator isn't working properly, so we stop to engage the emergency throttle. This consists of a small device that Albert places between his fingers that has a button that he presses with his thumb. So the Andorran, while holding the steering wheel to turn and brake, also presses the little button to accelerate. We continued on, and after a few kilometers, the left tie rod holding the front axle broke again. We think the support was already damaged the previous time, and that's why it broke again today. We have taken it apart and continued. We reached a section of rather complex dunes and, after a few scares from reaching the top of the dune at excessive speed and flying off, Marc and I erred on the side of caution and the pilot, obedient, lifted his finger a little too early and we ran aground upon reaching the top of the dune. Shovel, now move sand so we can use the hydraulics. While we were paddling, an SSV came up next to us, a little or a lot faster than expected, and went airborne, landed on its nose, flipped forward, and came to rest on its wheels. I threw down the shovel and ran toward the vehicle, and as I was just a few meters away, the engine started, and it started off on its mad dash. After almost an hour of shoveling and trying to free the truck, luckily the MAN from Juvanteny showed up, took pity on us, and came over to help us out of the mess we were in. We owe them a couple of beers!!! We reached the 15-minute neutralization and Marc and Albert, without leaving the cabin, installed a new power meter. After 15 minutes we left the neutralization and stopped again to finish installing the new one. The rest of the stage went off without incident and we reached the finish line without any further problems. It's been a long and difficult day, but we've managed to get one more stage under our belt and one less to go. Gas i xampany!!! Ferran MarcoToday's loop stage, 716 km, of which 477 km are timed.
Dakar. Stage 8 Wadi – Al Dawasir
