2009 Dakar Rally Argentina-Chile Thread

[EJ25RUN]

Event Website
http://www.dakar.com/

Scruttineering












500+ competitiors in cars, Motorbikes and trucks






Vehicles



SPECIFICATIONS: RACING LANCER
OVERALL LENGTH 4475mm
OVERALL WIDTH 1990mm
WHEEL BASE 2900mm
FRONT TRACK 1750mm
REAR TRACK 1750mm
OVERALL WEIGHT 1900kg


ENGINE Turbo-diesel V6, 24 valves with dry-sump lubrication
FUEL SYSTEM Common-rail high pressure injection
DISPLACEMENT 2997cc
MAXIMUM OUTPUT 206kw (280 PS), 650Nm (66.3 kgfm)
FUEL TANK CAPACITY 460L
TRANSMISSION Five -speed ‘Ricardo’-type sequential shift manual gearbox
4WD SYSTEM Permanent mechanical center diff lock
FRONT DIFF ‘Ricardo’ self-locking
REAR DIFF ‘Ricardo’ self-locking
SUSPENSION - FRONT Independent, double wishbones, coil spring
SUSPENSION - REAR Independent, double wishbones, coil spring and anti-roll bar system
DAMPERS Fully-adjustable BOS dampers
STEERING Power-assisted rack & pinion
WHEEL STROKE 250 mm front and rear
BRAKES 'BREMBO' Front and rear Ventilated discs with 6-piston calipers
WHEELS 'OZ' aluminum
TYRES BF Goodrich
OTHER Aeronautic steel multi-tubular frame, honeycomb body floor and carbon fiber body

[BTLFED]

Awesome! I LOVE the Dakar Rally!!

I especially love how the support trucks race too!

[EJ25RUN]

Awesome! I LOVE the Dakar Rally!!

I especially love how the support trucks race too!

Do you remember the DAF Turbo Twin II X1 from 1988? It had an aluminum chassis and two 11.6 litre turbo diesels. The truck could hit 125 mph allowing to hold 3rd overall at one point.

There was an accident with a slower truck "x2" killing the driver so DAF withdrew from the race and these trucks were forever banned. But this truck remains as the most "unlimited" Dakar race truck ever made.

The famous scene of Jans de Rooy out accelerating Ari Vatenen in a Group B Peugeot 405 has to be the most unbeleivable video in Dakar history.

Here is the video of that 88 Truck vs Car desert drag race @ 2:40 mins

[BTLFED]

Holy shit! I had totally forgot about those trucks! That was a horrible accident. Too bad too, because those trucks were ridiculous. There is no way a support truck should be faster than the race cars haha

Kudos to you, my friend!

[SampaGuy]

The support trucks dont race, theres a separate class for trucks. They look similar because both have to be prepared to navigate through the terrain, but even the "race" trucks have their own support trucks, which are not racing.

[EJ25RUN]

The support trucks dont race, theres a separate class for trucks. They look similar because both have to be prepared to navigate through the terrain, but even the "race" trucks have their own support trucks, which are not racing.

This is true. In the very first event back in 1979, the trucks didn't race, but, because of that event, the organizers decided to make a seperate class for the rigs. Sorry i misunderstood you BTLFED.

Lot of times though, even the race rigs are used to pull other cars/trucks from being stuck in the dunes. Just Dakar sportsmanship.

1985 example.

DAF race truck "Bull" and its support truck DAF "double cab"


PLV: Did you get my PM?


Speaking of trucks, I'm Russian so you know who i cheer for. GO KAMAZ!!!

[SampaGuy]

Because Dakar was cancelled in 2008, the VW-Toureg and a few other Dakar teams participated instead in the Rally dos Sertoes, an off-road race across Brazil. There is a big Mitsubishi L200 Evo spec series over there, and its kinda like miatas and autocrossing, if you race offroad in Brazil, you probably have a L200 Evo. These have like 200hp. Needless to say, the VW team with factory support and a race car in a whole other level completely dominated the competition.

I found the espn coverage on youtube (yes its in spanish... but some of the interviews are in english)

Part 1 - http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=zdoZb0ts788
Part 2 - http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=T35IZPz-sm4
Part 3 - http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=q3G47RxqcqE
Part 4 - http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=50oMdvIeAe8

[Sam C.]

F the terrorists the rally lives on.

[speedminded]

The famous scene of Jans de Rooy out accelerating Ari Vatenen in a Group B Peugeot 405 has to be the most unbeleivable video in Dakar history.

Here is the video of that 88 Truck vs Car desert drag race @ 2:40 mins

I'm still trying to figure out how the driver/passenger was ejected with the seat

[EJ25RUN]

I'm still trying to figure out how the driver/passenger was ejected with the seat

If i was to take a guess, i wold blame the seat itself. This incident reminds me of Ari Vatanen's 1985 crash where he was seriously injured because his seat had become dislodged.

[green91]

I had read that there was some sort of issue with the harness being fastened to the seat mounting points rather than the roll cage.

[EJ25RUN]

The Versus tv channel will be covering the 2009 race. Here is their tape delay schedule.

I will update the op with new info as it comes in on showtimes.

So far, this is the only date available as the rally starts today.

Sunday, January 04, 2009
3:30PM - 4:00PM DAKAR HIGHLIGHTS (TV-NR)
DAKAR RALLY

[EJ25RUN]

Is anyone watching? I saw the Versus broadcast at 3:30pm which will be up everyday till the end.

I have also downloaded the Eurosport streem from day one and day two (today) which is much better and is about 45 mins long.

I can provide the details on the stream through pm if anyone wants it.

[nreggie454]

It is on right now. Channel 82

[EJ25RUN]

It is on right now. Channel 82

I'm downloading the Eurosport broadcast from Europe, it is much more detailed about the days action and doesn't give the shit coverage you always get from American TV.

Eurosport has a team at the event and you get live interviews from the biwak as the competitors finish the stage.

If anyone wants the location of where i download from, pm me.

[EJ25RUN]

Vladamir Chagin's Kamaz won stage 3 today

Chagin and Kabirov sit 2nd and 3rd behind De Rooy in the trucks.


GO KAMAZ!!!

[Elbow]

This is good stuff!!

[EJ25RUN]

El Matador won his second stage today ahead of Al-Attiyah's BMW by just 6 seconds.


Stage 4 results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 3h42:57
2. Al Attiyah BMW + 0:6
3. Alphand Mitsubishi + 2:24
4. Miller Volkswagen + 4:20
5. Roma Mitsubishi + 5:38
6. De Villiers Volkswagen + 5:48
7. Terranova BMW + 6:49
8. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 6:54
9. Chicherit BMW + 10:31
10. Gordon Hummer + 12:13

Overall standings after stage 4:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 12h47:45
2. Al Attiyah BMW + 3:46
3. De Villiers Volkswagen + 11:33
4. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 15:41
5. Roma Mitsubishi + 20:00
6. Miller Volkswagen + 20:05
7. Terranova BMW + 24:30
8. Alphand Mitsubishi + 41:11
9. Gordon Hummer + 46:45
10. Holowczyc Nissan + 47:39


Robby Gordon's new Hummer is now 9th overall.

[EJ25RUN]

De Villiers wins as Al-Attiyah leads

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 19:27 GMT


Giniel de Villiers scored his first stage win of the 2009 Dakar rally to move into second position in the overall standings after five days of the event.

In the longest special of the rally so far, the South African mastered the sand dunes to reach the finish line in first place with a time of 5h47:43.

The 506-km special from Neuquen to San Rafael proved to be the trickiest of the rally so far, and both Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah lost valuable time.

Sainz, who had led the rally until today, lost over 15 minutes after making a driving mistake and tearing off his front hood following a problem with his steering.

The Spaniard has dropped to third position in the overall standings, while BMW rival Al-Attiyah has moved into the lead, with de Villiers in second, just two minutes and 24 seconds adrift.

"I had to do 200 kms without power steering and the car was very hard to drive over the dunes," said Sainz. "And then in one of them we flipped the car."

Qatari Al-Attiyah also hit trouble after his engine began overheating.

"We stopped twice because the engine was overheating," said the new leader. "The temperature was very, very high and so we had to stop and clean everything."

De Villiers' teammate Dieter Depping was second in the stage, ahead of American Robby Gordon in the Hummer.

Stephane Peterhansel was the quickest Mitsubishi today, finishing in fifth positioon.

WTCC champion Yvan Muller, competing in a single-seater SMG buggy, was forced out of the event after his car caught fire following a collision with the truck of Portuguese driver Elisabete Jacinto. None of them were injured.

Stage 5 results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. De Villiers Volkswagen 5h47:43
2. Depping Volkswagen + 2.18
3. Gordon Hummer + 4.12
4. Al Attiyah BMW + 5.23
5. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 7.12
6. Miller Volkswagen + 8.59
7. Alphand Mitsubishi + 10.02
8. Roma Mitsubishi + 13.38
9. Sainz Volkswagen + 15.42
10. Chicherit BMW + 38.27

Overall standings after stage 5:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Al Attiyah BMW 18h44:37
2. De Villiers Volkswagen + 02.24
3. Sainz Volkswagen + 06.33
4. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 13.44
5. Miller Volkswagen + 19.55
6. Roma Mitsubishi + 24.29
7. Gordon Hummer + 41.48
8. Alphand Mitsubishi + 42.04
9. Depping Volkswagen +1h16.40
10. Spinelli Mitsubishi +1h39.26

[larossa9]

BEST RACE IN THE WORLD, this would be the most fun and challenging race ever, i need to do this

[SampaGuy]

First death this morning, Pascal Terry RIP

[SampaGuy]

BEST RACE IN THE WORLD, this would be the most fun and challenging race ever, i need to do this

Yeah I think the best part is that you don't have to be a world karting champion when you were 4 years old, like for Formula 1.

[EJ25RUN]

Yeah I think the best part is that you don't have to be a world karting champion when you were 4 years old, like for Formula 1.

Thierry Sabine, "A race for amateurs where the professionals are tolerated. Not the other way round."

Sad to see another fatality. I believe the Dakar has a record of atleast one death a year. It is definetly the world's most dangerous race.

I'm excited for Nasser Al-Attiyah shoving it up VW's nose. Everyone said it was a VW vs Mitsu race and here is the BMW out front.

+Robby Gordon's Hummer will come into its own in the coming stages. The "Africa" portion of this years Dakar is now underway and Gordon finished 3rd today.

PLV......are you watching it on Eurosport or something else?

[EJ25RUN]

For anyone interested, live tracking is available from this link....

http://tracking.dakar.com/ASO/index_us.html

It shows the competitiors from every class as they hit each check point. The bikes have finished todays stage but all the cars and trucks are yet to cross the line.

Al Attiyah has won again in the BMW on today's shortened stage. At the time i looked, only 5 cars had finished.

On the bikes, American Jonah Street on a nonfactory KTM is now 40 mins behind Marc Coma's leading Repsol KTM.

[SampaGuy]

PLV......are you watching it on Eurosport or something else?

Nah I havent been watching. Im traveling around spain for the holidays visiting some friends. They always have updates on the race on the news at night though.

I drove on part of the Valencia F1 circuit yesterday, haha. Beautiful city.

[EJ25RUN]

Nah I havent been watching. Im traveling around spain for the holidays visiting some friends. They always have updates on the race on the news at night though.

I drove on part of the Valencia F1 circuit yesterday, haha. Beautiful city.

Ricardo Tormo? I'd give anything to be there for a Motogp race. Haven't ever seen 100+ thousand people screaming in a stadium. Kick ass stuff man.

Oh btw, Pascal Terry has reportidly passed away due to a heart attack. There was still a terrible breakdown in comunication between the time he signaled for help but atleast his passing wasn't due to a racing incident.

Nonetheless.....RIP

[SampaGuy]

Ricardo Tormo? I'd give anything to be there for a Motogp race. Haven't ever seen 100+ thousand people screaming in a stadium. Kick ass stuff man.

Nah dude, the street circuit that goes through the port, European GP 2008!

[EJ25RUN]

Nah dude, the street circuit that goes through the port, European GP 2008!

opps. I realized that error right after i saw you posted. I always think of Ricardo Tormo when thinking of Valencia.

That is in the Catalan region right? I hear they have great riding/driving roads in that region. Is that so?

Any pics?

[EJ25RUN]

Al-Attiyah disqualified from Dakar Rally

By Toby Moody ( .... ) Thursday, January 8th 2009, 21:57 GMT


Nasser Al-Attiyah has been disqualified for missing hidden waypoints on today's stage of the Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally.

The Qatari was leading after yesterday's stage to Mendoza, but complained of overheating and a possible cracked cylinder head to his BMW engineers last night.

Only 5 kms into the stage that was shortened from 394 to 178 kilometres, Al Attiyah soon found the water temperature rocketing to 130 degrees with the first dunes approaching.

Opting to then take a way around the dunes to get to the first Control Point, he and co-driver Tina Thorner ran the risk of missing out on an secret way points that were in the midst of the dunes they had circumnavigated.

At the pre-event briefing for all competitors in Buenos Aires, David Castera of the Dakar organisers, ASO, stressed the importance of not missing any part of the route, otherwise penalties would be clear; that of exclusion.

This is to try and stop competitors getting massive time penalties, but then continuing in the event and ultimately finishing ahead of others who have ultimately completed the exact route.

This now leaves BMW out of the equation and Volkswagen's massive works effort at the top of the tables with former South African Touring Car Champion Giniel de Villiers at the top of the standings ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz and Baja 1000 specialist Mark Miller.

On the matter of team orders at the start in Buenos Aires, De Villiers said there were none discussed before the event.





Damn, i was really pulling for him. He's been having terrible luck with over heating the past couple of days. Looks like BMW has a lot of work ahead of them in sorting this issue out.

BTW

[EJ25RUN]

Kabirov and Chagin overtook De Rooy today. KAMAZ Master now sit 1, 2,& 4 "WHOO HOO"


Pos. N° Name Make Time Variation Penalty

1 506 KABIROV (RUS)
BELYAEV (RUS)
MOKEEV (RUS) KAMAZ 24:45:36 00:00:00

2 501 CHAGIN (RUS)
SAVOSTIN (RUS)
NIKOLAEV (RUS) KAMAZ 24:55:08 00:09:32

3 505 DE ROOY (NLD)
COLSOUL (BEL)
VAN MELIS (NLD) GINAF 25:10:56 00:25:20

4 508 MARDEEV (RUS)
MIZYUKAEV (RUS)
MARDEEV (RUS) KAMAZ 28:06:49 03:21:13

[EJ25RUN]

Sainz retakes Dakar lead with win, Stephane Peterhansel might have to retire from race following todays fire

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, January 9th 2009, 16:08 GMT


Carlos Sainz retook the lead of the Dakar Rally on Friday after scoring his third victory of the event in the seventh stage.

The Spaniard, who had dropped to third place on Wednesday, took victory in the special from Mendoza to Valparaiso, as competitors crossed from Argentina to Chile for the first time.

Today's stage was again shortened significantly following the problems the drivers encountered with the high dunes yesterday.

Sainz needed two hours and 35 minutes to complete the special as Volkswagen dominated the day following the exclusion of BMW's Nasser Al-Attiyah yesterday.

"The stage went well," said Sainz. "It was a pretty tough stage, even with some mud patches and puddles that were very slippery. Pretty tough. At the moment everything is going fine for the team."

The Spanish driver finished 3:41 minutes ahead of American teammate Mark Miller, while Giniel de Villiers, who inherited the rally lead yesterday after Al-Attiyah's exit, finished down in fifth, losing the lead to Sainz by just nine seconds.

Miller is now third, 13:53 minutes behind Sainz.

"It was not too bad," added de Villiers. "I'm very happy for the team that we are putting on a great performance.

"Ourselves we had a lot of challenges today. We had a puncture and we lost the gearbox. It was very challenging, but it was not too bad. We made it to the finish and we can continue the next time."

American Robby Gordon took third place in today's stage with his Hummer, ahead of Joan Roma in the Mitsubishi.

The Japanese squad, winners of the last seven Dakar rallies, had another disappointing day, as reigning champion Stephane Peterhansel dropped out of contention.

The nine-time Dakar winner stopped just 57 km after the start and had to put out a fire in his car before he managed to continue. He later stopped again after 80 km due to overheating issues and again later with a broken engine that is likely to put him out of the rally.

Following Peterhansel's problems, and the retirements of Hiroshi Masuoka and Luc Alphand early on, Mitsubishi's best-placed man is now Roma, who is 29 minutes behind Sainz.

The Dakar caravan stays in Chile for tomorrow's rest day.

Stage 7 results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 2h35:27
2. Miller Volkswagen + 03:41
3. Gordon Hummer + 04:13
4. Roma Mitsubishi + 05:37
5. Chicherit BMW + 06:08
6. De Villiers Volkswagen + 07:48
7. Vigouroux Hummer + 11:30
8. Holowczyc Nissan + 13:56
9. Novitskiy BMW + 19:40
10. Van Deijne Mitsubishi + 20:29

Overall standings after stage 7:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 23h42:40
2. De Villiers Volkswagen + 00:09
3. Miller Volkswagen + 13:53
4. Roma Mitsubishi + 29:16
5. Gordon Hummer + 1h08:21
6. Holowczyc Nissan + 2h39:32
7. Tollefsen Nissan + 2h59:21
8. Van Deijne Mitsubishi + 5h30:18
9. Zapletal Mitsubishi + 6h25:46
10. De Azevedo Mitsubishi + 9h31:20

[EJ25RUN]

Autosport....

Sainz takes fifth Dakar stage victory

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, January 12th 2009, 18:46 GMT


Carlos Sainz stretched his lead at the top of the Dakar standings once again after scoring his fifth stage win of the rally.

The Volkswagen driver has now won three stages in a row to increase his lead at the top of the table to nearly 20 minutes over teammate Mark Miller, who took second place in today's stage.

In one of the longest and hardest specials of the rally at 449 km, Sainz avoided trouble and reached the finish line after nearly six hours of driving.

"This special was very hard," said Sainz. "Very, very, very hard with lots of rocks and with difficult navigation. Really complicated.

"Being here today is a victory. We'll see what happens later, but it was a difficult day."

Miller finished less than two minutes behind, but the American had looked set to win the stage before he was forced to stop to fix his steering and a wheel.

"We have been waiting for a year for this stage," said Miller. "We caught Carlos after 60 kms and we overtook him after around 150. Things were going quite well.

"In the last off-road section Carlos and I were both a little bit... The track was difficult to find and there were big boulders and I hit one on the right, I didn't even see it and it broke the steering so we had to stop and fix the steering and at the same time fix a wheel that broke. But it was a really, really fun day."

Thanks to today's result, Miller moved into second place in the overall standings after a difficult day for Giniel de Villiers, who finished far from his teammates after getting lost around the 80-km mark.

The South African, fourth in the special, dropped 12 minutes and is now nearly 23 behind Sainz in third.

American Robby Gordon was third in the stage after another solid day with his Hummer, ahead of the only works Mitsubishi left, that of Joan Roma.

The Spaniard, a former winner in the bikes category, set the fifth fastest time today, but over 24 minutes adrift of Sainz. Roma is now nearly an hour behind the former rally champion.
Stage nine results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 5h56:08
2. Miller Volkswagen + 01:47
3. Gordon Hummer + 02:16
4. Terranova BMW + 10:06
5. De Villiers Volkswagen + 12:01
6. Novitskiy BMW + 16:15
7. Roma Mitsubishi + 24:41
8. Holowczyc Nissan + 26:48
9. Tollefsen Nissan + 39:47
10. Errandonea Buggy + 52:58

Overall positions:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 33h26:07
2. Miller Volkswagen + 19:52
3. De Villiers Volkswagen + 22:58
4. Roma Mitsubishi + 58:12
5. Gordon Hummer + 1h34:17
6. Holowczyc Nissan + 3h23:53
7. Tollefsen Nissan + 4h05:19
8. Terranova BMW + 6h04:47
9. Kuipers BMW + 6h37:23
10. Van Deijne Mitsubishi + 7h04:42



Spare a thought for American KTM rider Jonah Street, he was second overall until yesturday due to reinjuring himself. Really sad to see him go when he was doing so well and he wasn't even a factory KTM man as are Marc Coma and Cyril Despres.

[EJ25RUN]

Autosport.....

Sainz crashes out of Dakar rally

By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, January 15th 2009, 13:35 GMT


Dakar leader Carlos Sainz has crashed out of the rally during the 12th stage of the event.

The Spaniard, who was leading comfortably with just three stages left, careered into a ravine after 79 km of the day's special stage, damaging his Volkswagen beyond repair.

His co-driver Michel Perin is reported to have injured his shoulder, but both men arrived by helicopter at the bivouac in Fiambala.

Sainz' exit leaves teammate Mark Miller in the lead, pending the end of today's stage.

OMG!!! This means American Mark Miller (Baja Veteran) is now the man to take the rally if he can hold off Ginel De Villiers!

Go American at the Dakar!

Robby Gordon should be up to 4th if he hasn't passed Roma yet to be on the podium.

Sucks for Carlos though, it was his race.

[EJ25RUN]

Autosport....


De Villiers takes stage win and lead

By Matt Beer Thursday, January 15th 2009, 17:23 GMT


Giniel de Villiers' victory in stage 12 of the Dakar Rally has moved him into the overall lead after Carlos Sainz crashed out of a dominant position.

Sainz had gone into the 253-kilometre Fiambala to La Rioja stage 27 minutes ahead of Mark Miller, with their Volkswagen teammate de Villiers 41 minutes adrift in third.

But the former World Rally champion crashed into a ravine, with the car sliding off the course and landing on its roof.

Although the VW was still healthy enough to continue despite its damage, Sainz's co-driver Michel Perin had sustained an injury to his shoulder, so the crew had to return to the main bivouac so Perin could receive treatment, ending their Dakar Rally.

"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us," said Sainz. "We fell into it and landed on our roof. A BMW and Nani Roma were able to get around us at the last moment. The BMW team stopped and helped us to put the car back on its wheels.

"In the meantime an ASO doctor had arrived who briefly checked Michel Perin and barred him from continuing the drive on account of a shoulder injury. The Race Touareg was by and large okay, the engine was running. Of course we were lucky in this situation as well.

"I'm very disappointed and I'm very sorry for the team that we're out, but I'm hoping that our team will win in the end anyhow."

None of the crews managed to get through the stage without drama, though, with all the front-runners either getting stuck or having issues with navigation during the day.

Ultimately it was de Villiers who had the cleanest run, and he therefore won the stage by 16 minutes from Miller, giving him a two-and-a-half minute lead over the American in the outright standings with two days to go.

But despite vaulting ahead, de Villiers was frustrated at the end of the stage.

"Very hard stage. The road book is really, really bad. Really pathetic," he said. "There are big canyons, it's really dangerous, and you don't know how to find your way.

"We were turning in circles for like 15 minutes. They have to do something - you cannot drive the stage like that.

"Other than that, a very tricky stage. A lot of sand, very soft. We stopped once to deflate, and then the next time we went into a big, big canyon we could not find a pass and we had to get out to look for a pass and we found Robby (Gordon) there as well."

Miller also found the stage incredibly challenging.

"It was a horror of a stage," he said. "I can't imagine that the amateur guys can finish the stage. I would be impressed with everyone and I would like to shake their hands. It wasn't only difficult, the navigation was absolutely impossible. We went over stones the size of a car.

"It's the longest 300kms or whatever of my life. Really difficult. It was just an incredible stage. (Co-driver) Ralph (Pitchford) did a phenomenal job. We were stuck three times. I think that could be the toughest stage I've ever done."

Mitsubishi's last remaining works driver Joan 'Nani' Roma came to a halt 165kms into the stage, ending the team's already fading hopes of an eighth consecutive Dakar win, and moving Robby Gordon's Hummer up to third place.

"A decent run for us," said Gordon. "About 70 kilometres back I got stuck in a rock canyon and I burned the clutch, and I had to run first gear all the way. But I was in front of all these guys and got myself trapped.

"It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Nani now, maybe we'll find ourselves in third. It's going to be a close race, for sure."

Stage 12 results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen 4h06:43
2. Mark Miller Volkswagen + 16:17
3. Robby Gordon Hummer + 25:27
4. Dieter Depping Volkswagen + 42:02
5. Leonid Novitskiy BMW + 55:25
6. Ivar Erik Tollefsen Nissan +1h15:16
7. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan +1h33:59
8. Miroslav Zapletal Mitsubishi +1h37:23
9. Matthias Kahle Honda +2h04:12
10. Guerlain Chicherit BMW +2h05:09

Overall positions:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen 43h46:58
2. Mark Miller Volkswagen + 2:35
3. Robby Gordon Hummer + 1h18:52
4. Ivar Erik Tollefsen Nissan + 5h48:21
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 6h44:42
6. Dieter Depping Volkswagen + 8h33:23
7. Miroslav Zapletal Mitsubishi +10h49:36
8. Leonid Novitskiy BMW +13h19:06
9. Guerlain Chicherit BMW +14h56:00
10. Bruce Garland Isuzu +18h17:40

[EJ25RUN]

De Villiers claims historic Dakar win

By Matt Beer Saturday, January 17th 2009, 14:16 GMT


Giniel de Villiers has clinched a historic Dakar Rally victory for Volkswagen, taking the first diesel-powered win in the event in its first year in its new South American location.

Mark Miller completed a VW one-two, as this year's dominant team cruised through the final days over an hour clear of the rest of the field.

It should have been a top three sweep for VW, had Carlos Sainz not crashed out of the lead on Thursday. The former World Rally champion had led for most of the rally, only to slide into a ravine with just two days to go, leaving his co-driver Michel Perin with shoulder injuries that forced them to withdraw.

With Miller losing a lot of time in the same stage, de Villiers suddenly vaulted from a distant third - 41 minutes adrift - into the rally lead, where he remained through today's deciding run from Cordoba back to Buenos Aires.

"Absolutely incredible," said de Villiers, who was also fastest in the final stage. "I've never experienced such a feeling before. I was very nervous in the last couple of kilometres, but it's an unbelievable feeling.

"I'm so happy for the team and everyone back at Volkswagen, who've been supporting us for five years to get this win."

Miller drove conservatively and ultimately finished eight minutes behind his victorious teammate.

"The team won, that was our goal," he said. "It could have been Giniel or me, and that's the way it works. I'm a young guy and I'm going to have plenty of chances, I hope."

While VW celebrated, it was a disastrous event for Mitsubishi. The winners of the last seven Dakars hoped their brand new diesel Lancer could continue that streak, but took just one fastest stage time, never led the event, and lost three of their four works cars early on. Joan Roma's eventual 10th place was little consolation.

With Mitsubishi under-performing, the X-Raid BMW team proved to be VW's main rivals. Nassar Al-Attiyah battled for the lead with Sainz in the opening days, only to be disqualified for missing waypoints while trying to protect an overheating engine.

Third place finally went to Robby Gordon, despite the Hummer driver having some late scares with a stuck throttle yesterday and a flat tyre today. But with a vast advantage over Overdrive Nissan drivers Ivar Erik Tollefsen and Krzysztof Holowczyc in fourth and fifth places, Gordon was still able to make it home in third.

Stage 14 results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen 1h35:43
2. Leonid Novitskiy BMW + 2
3. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 17
4. Joan Roma Mitsubishi + 38
5. Guerlain Chicherit BMW + 50
6. Mark Miller Volkswagen + 6:39
7. Rene Kuipers BMW + 9:02
8. Matthias Kahle Honda + 9:14
9. Bruce Garland Isuzu + 9:31
10. Ivar Erik Tollefsen Nissan + 9:33

Overall results:

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen 48h10:57
2. Mark Miller Volkswagen + 8:59
3. Robby Gordon Hummer + 1h46:15
4. Ivar Erik Tollefsen Nissan + 6h04:34
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 6h37:49
6. Dieter Depping Volkswagen + 8h43:29
7. Miroslav Zapletal Mitsubishi +11h03:08
8. Leonid Novitskiy BMW +13h15:13
9. Guerlain Chicherit BMW +14h49:49
10. Joan Roma Mitsubishi +17h27:46

Marc Coma wins on the KTM in bikes and Kabirov takes it from Chagin on the trucks (just). Both were in the KAMAZ