Rally Global

 At a moment when the race is its most decisive phase and the slightest mistake canhave serious consequences in terms of ranking, Carlos Sousa was again beyondreproach at the wheel of the SUV Haval of the Chinese team Great Wall Motors.With scarce technical means to compete with the main car teams, the Portuguesedriver has been making use of is extreme consistency and huge expertise toconsolidate a historic result to a team that began its relationship to the greatest rally inthe world only three years ago.For now and by contrast with what happened to the winner from the last edition,Carlos Sousa completed the longest stage of this Dakar, in a total of 565 km fromAntofagasta to Iquique, taking benefit from Nasser Al-Attiyah’s withdrawal to climbone more position overall and placing himself in seventh again, where he was after thefifth stage.

“It was a long and weary day, that’s for sure, but we manage to succeed without anygreat problems, despite some dangerous out of track passages and some seriousnavigation work. My greatest helplessness is not being able to keep the same pace as the MINI ’s…  It is frustrating watching then passing by and not being able to react. Inshort, it is an uneven battle that we have to fight to the end, and continue to bet onour consistency and the reliability that the Great Wall has shown until now”, affirmed Carlos Sousa at the finishing line of the this ninth stage, where he gainedsome time to Leonid Novitskiy’s MINI for the second day in a row.