Hey! ItÂs Mark calling in after the 2nd stage in Portimal. The report is that everything went very smooth. It was a difficult track, very very narrow, very slow going, I mean it was like 35 miles and it took an hour. But we made it to the finish and didnÂt put a tire off the track all day, low risk and now we move on. I havenÂt seen the results; I think a top 10 should be OK, and going to Africa that is where we want to be, some place up there. The split times for the top 10 you get a 2 minuet dust break between the cars. So 10th or 11th is where you want to be so thatÂs perfect. So everything else went good. Really nothing exciting yet. Tomorrow, we get on a boat here in about 4 hours. We have about a 400 km liaison through Spain to the port. We cross the Mediterranean in a boat all night, we get up in Medior in the morning and drive a liaison and then we do the first African stage. ItÂs going to very tricky navigation wise tomorrow. So anyway I think everything is really great, Something happened with Ari today at a water crossing but we donÂt know yet. I think Carlos was probably the fastest on the stage but heÂs using quite a different set up than us. All in all every thing looks good. Anyway, IÂll check in from Africa tomorrow. Thank for listening, bye.
Mark’s call in’s can be heard @: http://www.usadakar.com/
Also be sure to read the race analysis on USA Dakar written by Ryan Arciero. I think Ryan provides great insight from an American driver who has raced the Dakar, as well as having been Mark’s team mate for a number of years. Thanks, Craig
