Dakar 2017: Early end for Marco Filippi
DAKAR 2017 The 39th Dakar Rally in South America has been in full swing for three days now. For the Swiss Marco Filippi, the adventure with his KTM already ended painfully on the first stage. As co-pilot of the Italian Marco Piana, Steven Griener is doing well so far. For months Marco Filippi has been waiting for his first [...]
Marco Filippi spent months preparing for his first appearance in the world's most difficult rally (budget: 70,000 Swiss francs), fulfilling a childhood dream. But after just a few hours, the adventure came to an abrupt end for him on the first short stage of the Dakar 2017 on January 2.
The roaring start in Asunçion in Paraguay was followed by a 39 km prologue, which the 40-year-old Geneva native tackled in good spirits on his KTM 450 Rally Replica. His only objective was to make it over the entire distance of around 9,000 km without an accident, regardless of where he finished. Especially since Filippi had already suffered a broken ankle in a crash a few weeks earlier, which made it difficult for him to prepare for the big event.
His wish did not come true. Of all things, the only Swiss among the 143 motorcycle riders crossed the path of a horse on the partly narrow and unclear track, which had broken free from its fence and sought escape. "The collision was not very bad, but strong enough to take me off the track. On the slippery ground I could not keep the bike under control and crashed," Filippi described the course of the accident via Facebook. He suffered a broken shoulder blade and a shoulder dislocation.
The unlucky rider was soon able to leave the hospital and then take care of the premature trip home to Geneva. "It is of course extremely frustrating to retire so early after so much dedication in this way. But when you decide to start in the Dakar Rally, you have to be ready for anything." He proved that he hasn't lost his sense of humor despite this under post scriptum: "I'm not going to become a vegetarian because of it..."
Car" category: Sébastien Loeb takes the lead
As the only Swiss, only Steven Griener is therefore still in the race, which has reached Argentinean soil after the prologue. The 34-year-old navigates the Italian Marco Piana from Lecco, who starts with a French license, in a Toyota Prado 120 over the difficult course. The duo mastered the course well on the first two days, albeit with a large time gap. They finished 68th and 69th among the 77 cars that started.
On January 4, they will start in 69th position for the third and 780 km long stage, whose timed section leads to 5000 m above sea level towards the end. With his first stage win in the 2017 Dakar Rally, Sébastien Loeb in the Peugeot 3008 DKR has taken the lead by 28 seconds over prologue winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Toyota Hilux.
Text: Peter Wyss
Photos: Marco Filippi, Red Bull Content Pool
