As with last year (see Team Gstaad detained by Mauritanian army), the Transafricaine Classic Rally from Paris to Dakar was best by a few administrative hassles when the Polisario rebels who control Western Sahara refused to let the racers pass through a narrow strip of (useless desert) land that they control. This meant that the teams were forced into a 600 km detour around the disputed territory which took them for a sight-seeing drive along western Africa's equivalent of the Pacific Coast Highway. This it turns out was the last place the Transafricans were able to get any kind of signal on their Nokia N95 mobile blogging unit, so the photo above is the last record we have of Team Gstaad before they headed into the unknowns of Mauritania. Not to worry though, because word is coming through that the Gstaad Transafricans have been slowly but surely making their way up the rankings, navigating sand dunes and rocky passes to rank as high as 7th place in the overall standings by last night. In conversations by satellite phone with GstaadLife.com, Stanislas de Sadeleer reported that the Mauritanian stages have separated the men from the boys, with numerous cars falling well short of the mark in the timed sectons, and large number of accidents (mostly rollovers), and a lot of mechnical problems.

Not so fortunately for Team Gstaad's trusty 1994 Land Rover Discovery Series I which has performed almost impeccably throughout. Ok, there was a minor problem on Monday with the fuel filter, but this was solved by 3-hour haggle with some locals over their perceived need to charge 200 euros for a part that normally sells for 20 euros! de Sadeleer also reported that mechnical issues are starting to effect teams in the top 10, which is significant for two reasons: firstly if de Sadeleer and Janssens just maintain their current progress, they could end up in the top 5 on the basis of retirements of cars currently ahead of them. Secondly all of the cars ahead of them have their own support teams, and it should be noted that Team Gstaad is the leading team in the rally that does not have a support team -- meaning they must tote around an extra 200 kilos of supplies, equipment, and spare parts for the car...through deep sand.

So every night the drivers wait anxiously for word of how they did in the day's stage, and for Team Gstaad the news has so far been good. Check out the video below for a taste of the action from the toughest stages over the pure sand dunes to yesterday's climb up the infamous Nega Pass. It'll make getting your Range Rover up that snowy driveway seem like child's play...

Team Gstaad Automobile Club is sponsored in part by ING Private Banking.