On day 1 of La Carrera Panamericana, the participants had to leave very early the city of Oaxace. A lot of fans came to the start of the 20th edition of La Carrera. The fans really enjoyed to interview the drivers and get autographs.
But then finally the time came for the offical start. All teams had only one aim: to do the best time to Tehuacan. At 8:00 am the first car hit the street. Every 30 seconds the next car (91 cars in total) was allowed to start. Day 1 included 6 special stages and an intermediate service, where the participants were able to repair the cars of the first kilometers.
First the participants had to drive 30 km towards Huitzo and Nochixlan. 30 km of pure speed, becuase nobody in this race has the luxury to lose seconds. Between winding roads and mountains, the cars arrived at the service in Telixlahuaca, to take the highway and heading to Tehuacan. The second section had a lengh of 70 kilometers. Jo Ramirez took first place of at day 1 stage with more than 6 minutes to his closest pursuer. Overall is Pierre de Thoisy is leading with a few seconds to Doug Mockett with his co-driver Angelica Fuentes.
But day 1 had also his brakedowns. Due to the winding curves and the excellent pavement, it was very easy for the drivers to drive incredible speeds. Sadly some drivers overestimated themself and lost controll over their cars. For three teams that was allready the end of La Carrera. The teams with the numbers 250, 120, 292, 11 and 401 left without serious consequences.
Hardly damaged was a BMW of the Original Panamericana Category. It will spend surly a good while with the restaurator.
Those who managed to conclude the day, took a magnificent and colorful surprise at the finish at the city of Tehuacan, where thousands and thousands of fans waited front of the Cathedral. All the crews, without exception, took more than 15 or 20 minutes to move more than 3 meters with their cars.
Today the cars will start at 9:00 am local time at Tehuacan. Starting point is the Commercial Center of Tehuacan.
Tehuacán is of celebration and tomorrow they will dismiss the cars to the 9:00 A.M. of the Commercial Center of the Stroll. All the night the teams were able to do repairartuibs to the cars and to get them ready for the difficult day of morning.
