http://www.sbs.com.au/dakar2009/news/ar ... or_Garland
Another great day for Garland
9 Jan 2009, 1:30 PM
Australia's Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki and their Isuzu D-Max ute are now in 20th place outright in the 2009 Dakar Rally after finishing the day in 21st place on the shortened Stage 6.
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"We started the day in the section of sand dunes that we had travelled over on Day Five," Garland said.
"Many of the vehicles that had got stuck there were still there, so you had to be extra careful getting through that section.
"Former world rally championship driver Alister McRae was one of the ones who got stuck late at night, but he waited out there till daybreak, then drove in to the start control, got his starting position and drove straight out again for today's stage!"
Garland said he and Suzuki were running as high as 13th on the road within the first five minutes on the dunes, but then made an uncharacteristic mistake that the Aussie off-road star is still kicking himself about.
"We got stuck! We hadn't let the tyres down properly and we followed someone else's tracks and we got stuck, so we lost about 20 minutes getting ourselves out of that mess, but the rest of the stage was flat, flowing sandy stuff," Garland explained.
"It was boring, but it was fairly quick, so all in all it was quite a good day."
Sweden's Pelle Wallentheim and Olle Ohlsson, entered under the banner of "Tubus Racing" but driving an Isuzu D-Max ute built and serviced by the Garland Motor Sport team, finished the stage 30th fastest - an impressive drive after starting from position 121.
They are now 57th outright, which is a huge improvement after the dramas of Day Four (broken diff and axle) and Day Five (leaking radiator).
"We're fine but we're tired. We will sleep very well tonight, I think, because we did not have much sleep the last two nights," Wallentheim said.
"This rally I seem to have a good day, then a bad day, then another good day. Then I have two bad days – but today was definitely a good one. You have a bad one and you have to start behind so many cars and pass them again."
Trucks out of the way
What certainly helped improve the situation for both Isuzu drivers was the fact that organisers decided to start the trucks an hour after the cars. Previously, the two classes had been starting together, depending on their finishing times the day before.
"That just made it so much better, because they had been carving up the tracks so badly, and because they were so fast, it was really dangerous," Garland said.
"There have already been some instances where they have ploughed into the backs of cars, and yesterday it happened at least once and both the car and the truck burned to the ground!
"So both Pelle and I were pleased to have them behind us and hope it stays that way from now on."
Garland says the crowds continue to line the route in their thousands, and greet them when they arrive at the overnight stop: "It's incredible how many people are coming to see us. We all feel like rock stars!"
Garland/Suzuki and Wallentheim/Ohlsson are driving two Isuzu D-Max utes, hand-built in Garland's Sydney workshop. They put out 160kW of power (up 33 per cent on the standard vehicle) and 500Nm of torque (@2000rpm; up 39 per cent).
Their results on Stage 6 show just how far they have moved through the field after finishing 51st and 67th respectively on the opening stage.
[Liz Swanton]
Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:24 pm
