TopGear.com at Dakar 2015: day three

Some devastating news to report from stage three today. Motorcycle rider Michal Hernik, 39, from Poland, was found dead today 206 kilometres into the stage.

In a statement released by race officials, they say that the circumstances of his death have yet to be determined and that Hernik did not show "any external signs of an accident."

That takes the total deaths of Dakar competitors in its history to 28. Bearing in mind that over 40 people who were simply following the event have been involved in fatal accidents since 1979, and there hasn't been a Dakar without a fatality since 2011, these statistics only go to underline the gruelling nature of the rally and the vehement respect its competitors deserve.

It was only this morning, at 5am, when making our way out of San Juan to today's stage that we ourselves witnessed a quad biker having a serious head on collision with a car.

Wanting to overtake a line of traffic to make his way to the stage, the quad rider was struck by a car coming the opposite way - jettisoning him over the handlebars and onto the carriageway. Police were at the scene in under a minute, but it was at this point that the true gravity of the danger that is involved in the event became very real.

The third day's route saw the bikes and quads separate from the cars and trucks. It was a shorter stage than yesterday that chalked up 542 kilometres onto the tally as they made their way from San Juan to Chilecito near the Chilean border.

We headed to a dry riverbed to watch the action as they headed through the mountains and fired themselves towards the Chile. It would also be the first time we'd witness the race trucks at full chat.

After a two and a half hour off-road trek to get there, it took over six hours for the whole field to pass our position. The fastest cars go through first, then the trucks, while the stragglers and support crews from both categories complete the parade.

The stage's deterioration during this period was incredible. Starting off as a hard, coarse layer of compounded silt and sand, after just a few cars it quickly became a broken and finely sieved sandpit that bogged the cars down and slowed the progress of the rear runners.

Trucks go last as the combination of their massive tyres, barreling understeer and power oversteer ploughs trenches into the surface that end up being three foot deep - making it impossible for cars to run skitter over the surface.

Being so big and heavy, I really wasn't expecting the big boxes on wheels to be that quick. I was so very wrong. A drastic recalibration of my brain's speed module was needed when the first Red Bull liveried Kamaz Race truck came through.

They're relentlessly quick, utterly terrifying and incredibly bewildering beasts. It's like watching a weird herd of sprinting elephants that never, ever give up. Their size and weight shouldn't make them work but they just do.

With less than a tenth of the race completed, attrition is already becoming a factor. 34 cars were not able to start this morning, including the only 100% female crew on the Dakar, the pink Isuzu 4x4 Isuzu driven by Catherine Houlès and Sandrine Ridet. But the guys up front are still going strong.

After his opening day stage victory was handed to him via a technicality, today Orlando Terranova claimed his first genuine stage win on the Dakar 2015 in his X-Raid Mini. He crossed the stage end almost two minutes quicker than Giniel de Villiers in his Toyota. And Peugeot bettered their pace as Carlos Sainz finished the third stage with the fourth best time, four minutes behind the day's winner and putting him in fourth overall.

Today was TG's final time on the stages. But we've still got more action from camp coming up.

On a sobering day, Top Gear sends all our best wishes and respect to the family and friends of Michal Hernik.

Pictures: Rowan Horncastle

Gallery: Cars of Dakar 2015
Gallery: Dakar Rally day two

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