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Dakar Euro vehicles reach Lima

LIMA, Peru - The Río Imperial has berthed in Lima where 700 vehicles sentfrom Le Havre in France are now awaiting their drivers and pilots.

The last few thousand kilometres of their overland journey to Santiago in Chile will be far more eventful...

The vehicles of the European contenders have cleared the first hurdle of the 2013 Dakar. Together with the media and organisers' vehicles, they arrived in Lima at the end of a 21-day voyage from Le Havre which at times put the Río Imperial's seaworthiness to the test.

TOUGH TRIP

The ship was battered by rough seas during the first three days of the Atlantic crossing but the cars, motorcycles and trucks were safely strapped and undamaged by all the rolling and swaying. Not a single scratch was found after 22 hours of work unloading 700 vehicles, as explained by Jean-Marc, the operations supervisor in Lima.

"We only had to inflate a few tyres and recharge a few batteries," he said. "Everything else was in good working order and the vehicles were taken to the parc fermé, where we'll keep a close eye on them until the drivers and riders come to pick them up."

The competitors are expected at Callao Port from the morning of December 31. The harbour lies just a few kilometres from the technical and administrative scrutineering site that will open on January 2 2013.
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