The Dakar 2019 Adventure | Stage 3 - San Juan De Marcona to Arequipa

Stage 3 | San Juan De Marcona to Arequipa 

Stage 3 added more variation to the rally as today allowed for assistance during the special. If you opt to use assistance the time spent idle is counted towards your overall time. There are 3 pit stops along the stage with the 3rd stop in neutralization zone, you have 6 minutes in a 1.8km zone before time starts again.

For the crews it was a busy day of chasing the racers from pit stop to pit stop. Each spot they would build out their pit with everything needed to work on the car. Being that there is no communications with Casey they have to be ready for all situations at a moments notice. 

Crew truck set up ready for if anything needs to be worked on.

Crew Truck loaded and on to the next pit stop.

Casey passes through pit stop 1, no issues.

Casey would start the stage as the 71st vehicle and 14th SxS. Everything was running smoothly through the first pit and Casey was on his way to the half way point. Half way through the stage there is a refueling stop that is in a neutral zone, time will not be credited for this stop. Fuel is administered by race organization, if Casey needed outside assistance he would have to pull back into the timed zone to get help, luckily that was not the case.

Crew works to replace the flat spare tire and get Casey back on the road before the neutral zone time is up.

He had a solid pace going all day until getting a puncture in the sand. After a quick tire change he was back running again. Because of the flat though he only had 1 spare going into the last part of the special. Not wanting to risk even more down time he stopped at the final pit stop, a quick tire swap on the rack and he was back moving.

During the stop one of the T4s got by him, and a battle ensued as Casey pushed to make his way around the towering vehicle.

Casey would finish the special stage 4th on the day +00:11:29 behind the leader. This puts him at 8th overall on the Rally +00:56:03 behind the leader. 

From the end of the special it was a lengthy 462km liaison down the coastline. The road was one of the craziest, most dangerous roads we’ve ever been on. A huge stretch of the road was along a cliffside with zero guardrail and semi trucks on the inside lane. As the sun went down we had another 4 hours onto the bivouac. 

On the liaison, the mechanics all slept as they’d have a long night ahead preparing the vehicles for the marathon stage.

The dangerous cliffside provided an excellent view of the sunset.

Stage 4 will be day 1 of the marathon stage. The stage will start off with an 85 km liaison that leads you into a long 406km special. The day will be a test of endurance without the outside assistance from the crews.