Di Lallo and Sornsirirat maintain class 1-2 | Safari Day 7

Isuzu MU-X and D-MAX continue to dominate production class in Australasian Safari penultimate day.

The Isuzu MU-X of Adrian Di Lallo and Roger Pedersen continue to lead the production class of the Australasian Safari, with the D-MAX of teammates OLan Sornsirirat and Veerachai Thorangkoon retaining second place after the second-last day of competition.

The Isuzu Motorsports MU-X is still fifth overall, but the Sornsirirat/Thorangkoon D-MAX ute has dropped one position to eighth overall after being forced to change a tyre. 

“It was a real drivers’ day. We lost time on the third stage with a puncture over some very sharp rocky areas but we’re still pushing,” Pedersen said.

The Dakar-spec D-MAX ute of Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki has fallen to 17th outright from the 20 remaining runners in the ‘car’ category, with the pair now focusing on reaching the finish line after losing a day due to electrical gremlins on Day 4.

“The conditions were quite rough out there today, but we’re not pushing it. We’re just following the two MU-Xs through, and making sure everyone gets to cross the finish line,” Garland said.

However, the day was not without drama for the Isuzu Motorsports premier pairing as they travelled between Exmouth and Carnarvon - 900km north of Perth in Western Australia.

“We did have a bit of a moment today. There was a section where Harry called a triple caution with a turn, and I thought he meant we turned after the caution, but just as well I pulled up, because the caution referred to a 100m cliff that would have dropped us straight into the Indian Ocean if we had gone over,” Garland said.

“We stopped about a car’s width from the cliff edge and turned in time! It was actually very beautiful, running along parallel to the sea, but it could have been a bit nasty! Everything is going well with the cars, and it is really just a spanner check tonight.”

The final stage of the 2014 Australasian Safari will take place later today, with the 157km ‘Murchison Mega Finale’ leg ending at Kalbarri - 592km north of Perth.