The unsung heroes

Tozé Aurelio and José Curto (both Portugal) are involved in their first full Dakar Rally with Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart.

Aurelio is working as a rally mechanic and travelling with assistant team director Jean-Marc Bonnay, Laurent Marcouire and Karim Sebaihi (all France) in a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.2 DI-D, while Curto is travelling in a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport with José Garrido (Spain), Jimmy Dutel and Laurent Michit (both France).

Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart – Day 8 quotes

Tomorrow (Monday) the route continues its move north along the length of the longest country in the world to reach Copiapó in the Atacama desert, the highest and driest area of its kind in the world and one of the most important mining regions of recent years.

Mitsubishi’s Roma maintains fourth place with marked improvement into La Serena

Leg 8: Valparaiso – La Serena
Liaison, 245 km; special, 294 km; liaison, 113 km; total, 652 km.

Weather conditions: cool, cloudy and misty, 10 degrees Centigrade, rising to 26 degrees Centigrade.

Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart maintained its chances of clinching a podium finish in the 2009 Dakar Rally, when Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain) set the fourth fastest time on the 294km special stage between Valparaiso and La Serena in Chile on Sunday.