Stage 3: San Juan - Chilecito
Motorcycles - Quad

    Liaison sections: 437 km
    Special stage: 220 km

Cars - Trucks

    Liaison sections: 258 km
    Special stage: 284 km

A vision of red

The pressure which competitors faced the day before (and late into the night for some of them), will partly ease off on the road to Chilecito. The shorter and less intense stage will allow them to enjoy their majestic surroundings. The red earth tracks, overlooking steep peaks and plunging down into canyons, will take the Dakar through one of the most beautiful regions of Argentina. But no-one should be tempted to sit back and enjoy the view, particularly on the motorcycle and quad bike routes which include some gruelling sections. With thousands of stones to be avoided, it will only take one to ruin this magnificent day!

Compared to yesterday, the third special stage distance was more than twice shorter - only 220 km against 518 km at SS2. However, today's SS was not easier than yesterday at all - DAKAR 2015 participants had to ascend 3500 meters high. In addition the route of the third special stage included several exhausting sections: thousands and thousands of stones around and there might hide the one that can destroy peace and joy of this magnificent day in split seconds!

Sergey Karyakin made his fans sweat today. Having started the seventh he showed up at the first waypoint only twenty seventh...

 

“Today in the beginning of the route I punched a wheel and lost a lot of time trying to find a hole. In addition yesterday I discovered that engine control unit works wrong, and we’ve decided to replace it with a standard one. As a result my quad lost power and I couldn’t drive faster than 90 km/h. Well, the race has just begun, so I am sure that I’ll catch up!”

Today Sergey finished fourteenth 13 minutes 21 seconds behind the leader.