Dakar Stage 9 – Simon Pavey

Simon Pavey called upon his years of Dakar experience to remain in the 2011 event despite suffering an engine failure on his BMW G450X. The honorary Brit who had elected to continue with his original engine earlier in the race so that he could stay in the Marathon class suffered the failure before check point 5, but managed to gain access to his spare engine and then fitted it by himself during the stage.

The problem cost the 43 year old Australian a massive six hours, but his resourcefulness meant that he is still in the race after finishing the stage in 103rd place.

Pavey will be determined to get his Dakar back on track after putting in some impressive performances earlier in the race. Stage ten of the Dakar will see competitors crossing back over the border into Argentina on a gruelling 700km Liaison before an extra 180km special stage.