Today, in the province of Misiones, the big adventure of the Desafio Litoral started with 104 participants. Throughout a hot and humid day, the pilots have faced a hard but attractive starting race. In the Motos category, Francisco “Chaleco” López ; In Autos, Orlando Terranova ; In quads 4X2, Sergio Lafuente; In Quads 4X4, Daniel Mazzucco; and In UTV, Omar Yoma was the fastest of this first day of course.

The big question of the day was: “How the pilots would feel on these unknown tracks, with a hard ground and an abundant vegetation on its sides?” To complete the day, the pilots drove on total 402 km, during more than four hours.

All the participants were surprised with the difficulty of the race, and they agree that it was very hard. This general opinion was reflected on the overall times.

The story of the day

In the Motos category, the fight of the day took place between Cyril Despres and “Chaleco” López, targeting the top spot. And the Chilean took early the lead, and maintained the distance with more than one minute over the frenchy. Finally he finished the day with 1m49 in advantage.

The polish Jacub Przyigonski finished 3^rd of the category. Teddy Blazusiak and Mauricio Gómez finished 4^th and 5^th. The three times champion of Argentina, for his come-back, and after seven month of rehabilitation, finished 9^th of the day.

In the Autos category, Orlando Terranova is the winner of the day. The Argentinean was back behind the wheel of a BMW, was the protagonist in the fight the tightest of the day, with the spanish Nani Roma(Mini All4 Racing), who finished 28 seconds after the winner. On the first part of the day, Terranova was more than six minutes late on the first section, but he attained to reverse the situation, and finish at the first position of this stage. Nani Roma informs us that he was victim of a flat tire, that’s why he lost a lot of time on the second section. The Chilean Boris Garafulic arrived 3^rd of the stage.

In the 4X2 Quads category, the uruguayan Sergio Lafuente obtained today the first place, above Gastón González and Jeremías González Ferioli. In the 4X4 category, the driver from Cordoba, Daniel Mazzuco was the fastest above Pablo Bustamante and Marcelo Fernández, respectively 3^rd and 4^th. While we are still waiting for new arrivals, the driver from la Rioja, Omar Yoma, wins the UTV category.

The fight for the 2013 Dakar began

The struggle between the pilots participating in the Dakar Challenge, synonymous of free-pass for the 2013 Dakar, has started today. In this specific classification, the polish Tadeuz Blazusiak (who participates to his first Rally Raid), was the fastest today.

The Paraguayan Roberto Recalde has started on the right foot, being the fastest of the candidates who have never raced on a Dakar, and fight for a ticket to Lima in January.