The Italian rider Franco Picco has been a victim of someones attempt to sabotage his motorcycle according to an article in Italian VIP.se!
It was on the road between the harbour, where all vehicles were parked, and the scrutineering area where the problem was noticed. The driver started to disassemble the engine on his 450cc Yamaha, once he noticed that the engine wasn´t working properly, only to discover a white powder, which had a sweet taste was mixed in the fuel. Probably someone had poured sugar down his tank in an attempt to saboutage the start of tthe Dakar. And most likely it was carried out when the vehicles where parked in the harbour area awaiting the arrival of its owners.
Luckily for this Italian rider he was given respite to cleanse out the tanks, carburetor and others before going through technical check.
If Franco was the only one who has been exposed is perhaps to early to say.
Franco Picco is a true veteran when it comes to the Dakar rally, this will be his 17th Dakar! Good for him avoiding a complete failure and full ended sabotage!
Let's hope this is the last obstacle on Franco Picco's Dakar return. Something similar happend to Czech rider David Pabiška already in Europe. During night break some men tried to stole the whole trailer with the motorbike. David had jumped out of the van which surprised them and they ran away.
ReplyDeleteYes! Lets hope so - stange thing to happen, my guess is that it´s random, and not targeted. If this was happening to one of the manufacturers teams, then it would seem more as a plan, but in these two cases, it just seems odd... But I really never ever heard of something like this, until today...
ReplyDeleteI can't recall which Dakar it was, but some biker had his bike stolen during refuelling in the city. And yes, there is this "Peugeot-gate" from 1988 when Ari Vatanen's car just dissapeared :-)
ReplyDeleteBTW: Great blog, it must be very time-consuming to keep it up to date.