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VW TOUAREGS TAKE THE DAKAR AGAIN
Carlos Sainz & Lucas Cruz, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2
Photo: courtesy audi-motorsport.info

Wolfsburg (16 January 2010). Triumphant title defence in South America: Volkswagen has won the legendary Dakar Rally for the second time in succession and including 1980 for a third time.

After a ’showdown in blue’ the Volkswagen duos and their TDI powered Race Touareg prototypes celebrated a one two three podium lockout at the finish of the toughest challenge worldwide in motorsport. In the process, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) triumphed by only 2 minutes 12 seconds ahead of his team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) in a thrilling finale on the closing 202 kilometre sprint on the 14th and final rally day. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) claimed third position. Last year’s winners Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) finished seventh.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team. It’s stunning what the drivers, co-drivers and the entire team have achieved on every single day of the Dakar Rally. With this one two three triumph Volkswagen Motorsport even surpassed its own lofty goals,” says Dr. rer. pol. h. c. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, Member of the Board of Management at VOLKSWAGEN AG for procurement, at the finish of the final stage. Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen explains: “Three weeks ago a highly motivated Volkswagen team came with the goal of successfully defending the ‘Dakar’ title won last year. Volkswagen has achieved something historical with this one-two-three. We are not only unbeaten in South America, we are also the only manufacturer to have won the world’s hardest rally up to now with diesel technology. The Volkswagen drivers fought amongst themselves for victory all the way to the chequered flag - sometimes by hard but fair means. This is exactly how we imagine motorsport to be. My congratulations therefore go to every Volkswagen duo who would all have been worthy winners.”

>>>>>Read all the latest and final results of the DAKAR in our RolfsRacing.com 2010 DAKAR Page.

60 tons of material, 17 support vehicles - Volkswagen’s “Dakar” crew embarked on its voyage across the Atlantic ocean to South America.

The winning team of the past Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile will tackle the title defence project from 02 to 16 January 2010 by fielding five Volkswagen Race Touareg vehicles. To successfully master the challenge of the world’s toughest rally Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and company will be supported on location by a service crew consisting of some 80 members. In Le Havre, France, five service trucks, three equipment trucks and two race trucks of the Volkswagen factory team set out on the longest part of the journey, the roughly four week passage to Buenos Aires in Argentina. The cargo ship Grande Brasile that takes the equipment to the starting location was loaded the day before.

“For Volkswagen the preparation for the Dakar Rally entered its hot phase as early as at the end of September. Today the cargo loading and embarkation of the support crew marked the completion of another stage for the team,” said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “And of course every successful completion of these individual steps makes us look forward to the ‘Dakar’ in Argentina and Chile, which as the title defender we want to again decide in our favour, with even greater anticipation. Today, a major portion of the logistical effort was accomplished.”

The Grande Brasile and its precious cargo: joint passage of all participants

Dakar Rally organiser A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation) made it possible for all European participants to transport their material to South America by ship by centrally organising the voyage. The Grande Brasile carries a major portion of the material of the total of 373 participating teams in its bowels.

On 28 December - exactly 27 days after the Grande Brasile’s departure - the teams will receive their trucks and other support vehicles again, including six Volkswagen Panamericana Multivans that will transport the Volkswagen crew through South America. For the roughly 80 team members work will then start on location: Immediately after clearing customs the support vehicles will be checked again. On 29 and 30 December they will undergo scrutineering, just like the actual rally vehicles. Every vehicle has to prove that the required modifications - from safety features all the way to sufficient water supply - were made. On 01 January when the starting signal is given at the ceremonial “Dakar” start the armada will embark on its tour of Argentina and Chile.

>>>>>Read all the News in our RolfsRacing.com News Page.

Huge success in 2009 in the audience opinion, the 17th edition of Sertões International Rally officially ended this Saturday (July 4th) with a press conference in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, and was also a unanimity among pilots and teams. All of them highlighted different degrees of difficulty, the variety of terrains along the 5,056 kilometers, and the degree of detail of the road books, besides the organization of the whole race.

“This was a very hard race, but is also one of the best in the world”, said Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, world off-road legend, who débuted in Brazil racing - and winning, in cars category - Sertões 2009. “Congratulations to the organization and the audience, that has always been caring and nice to us. But, before anything else, I would like to thank the Volkswagen. It may look easy, because we were always first or second, but it was not. We only achieved this prize as a result of serious and professional work”. Two times world champion in speed rally in the 90s, a time when there were many talented drivers, Sainz declared that he would like to race Sertões again. “If the team wishes to, I’ll vote yes”, he said.
>>>>>Read full story in our RolfsRacing.com News Page.

Accident between Touaregs marked yesterday special

The Sertões International Rally day before the last, this Thursday 2nd,  brought back to the leadership the pair Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz Senra, but a little incident helped the Spanish in the Race Touareg 2 to open an advantage of little more than four minutes. A navigation error caused a small collision between Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk and Maurício Neves/Eduardo Bampi – both competing with the same Volkswagen prototype.

According to the Brazilian pair press office, Neves blamed a navigation mistake as the cause of the incident. “Nasser missed an entrance, and so did us. Then we stopped to back up, but before we could start, Nasser was coming and we ended up colliding. It was a shock, but even thoug, we managed to go on and accomplish the mission of placing the three Touaregs in the first places of the day”, told Maurício.

But the pilot didn’t bother. “These are rally things”, he said. “I was driven to the mistake by Nasser’s mistake, and we hit. No one is to blame, and the cars showed how strong they are, and well built. Even though, I placed third and climbed to 3rd in the Grand Total. Tomorrow is the last day, and my goal is to arrive in Natal with the Touareg fleet again in the first three places. This is our mission”, completed the competitor.

Today (3rd), Sertões International Rally has it’s last competition day, and the champion of 2009 edition will be known: the favorites, due to their large advantage in the Grand Total time, are Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk ou Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Cruz Senra.

Penultimate Stage Results

Cars (special):

1º – Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Sebastian, VW Race Touareg 2 – 1h55min54s8

2º – Nasser Al-Attiyah / Timo Gottschalk, VW Race Touareg 2 – 1h59min57s7

3º – Maurício Neves/ Eduardo Bampi, VW Race Touareg 2 – 2h03min12s9

4º – Reinaldo Varela/ Marcos Macedo, Mitsubishi L200 RS – 2h05min08s0

5º – João Franciosi/ Rafael Capoani, Sherpa – 2h06min22s6

Cars (Grand Total):

1º – Carlos Sainz/ Lucas Sebastian, VW Race Touareg 2 – 28h09min43s4

2º – Nasser Al-Attiyah / Timo Gottschalk, VW Race Touareg 2 – 28h13min42s4

3º – Jean Azevedo/ Youssef Haddad, Mitsubishi L200 Evolution – 31h50min05s8

4º – Roberto Reijers/ Marcos Almeida, Ford Ranger – 33h29min44s5

5º – Felipe Bibas/ Emerson Cavassin, Mitsubishi L200 Evo – 33h51min25s0

Trucks (special):

1º – Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Sólon Mendes, Ford F4000 – 1h01min24s0

2º – Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine/ Raphael Bettoni, Ford F4000 – 1h03min11s0

3º – Guido Salvini/ Weidner Moreira/ Fernando Chwaigert, Mercedes-Benz Atego 1725 – 1h31min36s0

4º – Ulysses Marinzeck/ Evandro Luiz/ Jose de Carvalho, Ford 1722E Cargo – A 1h36min37s0

5º – André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto, Mercedes-Benz Ateto 1725 – 5h00min00s0

Trucks (Grand Total):

1º – Amable Barrasa/ Guilherme Petrine/ Raphael Bettoni, Ford F4000 – 25h19min12s4

2º – Edu Piano/ Davi Fonseca/ Sólon Mendes, Ford F4000 – 25h20min23s4

3º – Guido Salvini/ Weidner Moreira/ Fernando Chwaigert, Mercedes-Benz Atego 1725 – 28h37min25s7

4º – Ulysses Marinzeck/ Evandro Luiz/ Jose de Carvalho, Ford 1722E Cargo – A 33h31min16s9

5º – André Azevedo/ Maykel Justo/ Ronaldo Pinto, Mercedes-Benz Ateto 1725 – 46h32min45s5

Bikes (special):

1 – Jakub Przygonski, KTM 690 Rally – 2h04min54s7
2 – Zé Hélio, Honda CRF 450X – 2h06min15s5
3 – Sérgio Henrique (Ike) Klaumann, Yamaha W450 - 2h06min39s9
4 – Denísio do Nascimento, Honda CRF 450X – 2h08min12s1
5 – Juca Bala, KTM EXC 450R – 2h09min06s0

Quads (Grand Total):
1 – Cristiano Souza Batista, Suzuki 450 – 39h08min18s7
2 – Carlo Giovanni Collet Junior, Bombardier Renegade – 39h41min46s5
3 – Bruno Leão, Bombardier Can-Am Renegade 800 – 44h15min50s5
4 – José Demontier Moura, Suzuki LTR 450 – 49h16min49s4
5 – Giovanni Vassopoli, Yamaha Raptor 700 – 52h18min19s4

Coming up Saturday LAST STAGE

The Brazil based Sertões International Rally, is one of the biggest and most challenging off-road competitions in the world.

The 17th edition of Rally dos Sertões probably will be decided only in its 10th - and final - stage. In the thrilling fight for the leadership of the competition, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk returned to stay in front of Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz - both compete with the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 - to close the special this Tuesday (30), which traveled 240 kilometers in 2h37min16.

Leaving Barra, Bahia, and reaching Petrolina, in Pernambuco, the Rally dos Sertões 2009 reached its fourth state of the country. At the end of the seventh stage of the competition, Al-Attiyah and Gottschalk are nearly two minutes ahead of two Spanish.

“Today was a very difficult day, especially the sand. Even as marathon, I think was the most difficult day of rally so far. But I’m very happy, for our performance and because we come back to leadership. Tomorrow I will do my best and it seems that the title will be decided only in Natal, “said Nasser. “The passage of the special today was closed and just enough dust into the radiators. I stopped three times to fix and just wasting time. I think the dispute can be decided only in the last step. The fight for leadership is exciting, “said Sainz.

Among the bikes, the Brazilian Zé Hélio closed again in front of opponents. This Tuesday, the leader of the category also had luck.

“Today I walked a little more relaxed. I was saving the equipment, but was slower than in previous days. The Poles were faster, but ended up losing. Not expect close the day in front. I think the rally is very good, well structured, world-class, as was already happening in other editions. The organization is to be congratulated, “Zé Hélio.

Carlo Collet closed the second day in succession on the front, but is still 40 minutes of Carlos Batista, who won the first five stages and is the leader of the category.

“It was a good marathon, was fine, no problem. The hope was that reducing the difference. I thought to decrease even more, but still three days to the end of the rally. Let’s see what you make it, but we get to the end, “said Collet.

Coming up this week :

01/07 – 8ª round – Petrolina (PE) – Juazeiro do Norte (CE) Total stage distance : 421km / Special distance : 213km

02/07 – 9ª round – Juazeiro do Norte (CE) – Caicó (RN) Total stage distance : 439km / Special distance : 184km

03/07 – 10ª etapa – Caicó (RN) – Natal (RN) Total stage distance : 350km / Special distance : 114km

Dakar Rally, Leg 9, 12 January 2009

Wolfsburg (12 January 2009). Volkswagen celebrated its seventh stage victory on the ninth leg of the 2009 Dakar Rally, maintaining its overall lead with stage winners Carlos Sainz/Michel Perin (E/F), ahead of two further Race Touareg vehicles. The 537-kilometre leg from La Serena to Copiapo in Chile demanded concentrated performance of the navigators, particularly during the starting phase, and put a severe physical strain on the crews due to long off-road stretches with hard impacts and stony sections. At first, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) looked like the stage winners for a long time. However, the American/South African duo lost about five minutes just before the finish because of a tyre change, but improved by one position in the overall classification. Miller/Pitchford took second place from their team colleagues Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), who lost 12.01 minutes on the ninth competition day due to a navigation error.

Carlos Sainz, who had been leading the cross-country classic for three days from the second leg onwards, then being replaced at the top for two days, has been running in front in the overall classification again since last Friday. After five stage victories, his lead over Miller now amounts to almost 20 minutes. De Villiers/von Zitzewitz follow with a three-minute gap in third place. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk (D/D) in the fourth 280-hp Race Touareg lost 1:48 hours and dropped from eighth to tenth place overall.

_________________________

#301 - Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
“This was a very tough and demanding leg which, in the beginning, particularly tested the navigation skills of my co-driver Michel Perin - he really did a fantastic job. On the driving side, lots of off-road passages, hard shocks and stones galore made life difficult for us. But we handled these challenges well. The next few days will remain rough - that’s why our main goal is to get through without any problems. Then we’ll see what results this will produce.”

#308 - Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall
“Particularly the beginning of this extremely difficult leg went very well for my co-driver Ralph Pitchford and me. Ralph did a perfect job of navigating, so we caught up with my team-mate Carlos Sainz after only 60 kilometres. We stayed close to his dust and expected to be following him all the way to the finish. But Carlos and Michel made a small navigation mistake - so we passed them. Unfortunately, a slow puncture and the resulting tyre change later prevented my first stage victory at the ‘Dakar’. But that’s not so important. The main thing is that in the end a ‘blue vehicle’ will be the overall front runner.”

#305 - Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 5th place leg / 3rd place overall
“We neither had any punctures nor any other problems - as far as the technology goes, we got through perfectly. Unfortunately, though, we completely got lost on two occasions. The first time, the wrong route we’d taken even matched the roadbook descriptions quite well; that’s why we noticed that we were lost only after five kilometres. That definitely cost us 15 minutes. But there are still some tough days ahead on which a lot can happen.”

Read more in our RolfsRacing.com Dakar Page.