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Showing posts with label BMW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BMW. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Dakar 2009: De Villiers claims historic Dakar win
| By Matt Beer | Saturday, January 17th 2009, 14:16 GMT |
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.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 12 - Quotes from VW crews
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"The most important news is that the accident of Carlos Sainz and Michel Périn did not result in any severe personal injuries. Both of them are very disappointed that the ‘Dakar’ is over for them, but at the same time they’re relieved that with a shoulder injury for Michel the incident did not result in really serious consequences. We wish Michel a speedy recovery. But – we knew that to win, we’d first have to overcome the ‘Dakar’ itself. With Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford we’ve still got two irons in the fire to win the Dakar Rally with the Race Touareg and TDI power.”
#301 – Carlos Sainz (E), retired
"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us. 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 Périn 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.”
"The most important news is that the accident of Carlos Sainz and Michel Périn did not result in any severe personal injuries. Both of them are very disappointed that the ‘Dakar’ is over for them, but at the same time they’re relieved that with a shoulder injury for Michel the incident did not result in really serious consequences. We wish Michel a speedy recovery. But – we knew that to win, we’d first have to overcome the ‘Dakar’ itself. With Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford we’ve still got two irons in the fire to win the Dakar Rally with the Race Touareg and TDI power.”
#301 – Carlos Sainz (E), retired
"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us. 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 Périn 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.”#301 – Michel Périn (F), co-driver"About 30 kilometres before our accident we’d lost our way but soon found the right route again. We were heading towards the next waypoint, I counted down the distance – as always – and just as I was saying ‘20 metres’ we dropped into this whole. Even the days before, the roadbook had not been particularly accurate and today we paid the price for it. I broke a shoulder blade in the accident and that ended the rally for me and Carlos. I’m very sorry for the team. But I’m hoping that in the end a ‘blue’ vehicle will finish in front.”
#305 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"It was an incredibly rough day for us. Although the special stage today was short, it was extremely slow. The organiser selected routes with large stones, deep and super-soft sand. In addition, there were some places left out in the roadbook, which of course made the navigation extremely difficult. But about five kilometres before the finish my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz made up a lot of time for us when he found the quickest way while others were still looking for it.”
#307 – Dieter Depping (D), 4th place leg / 7th place overall"I think today wasn’t just 100 per cent ‘Dakar’, it was more like 120 per cent ‘Dakar’. The dunes were incredibly hard to
handle, lots of vegetation that made life difficult for us, and we had to cross riverbeds several times. My co-driver Timo Gottschalk had his work cut out for him. Many branch-offs were hard to see and the roadbook led us astray several times today as well. So, today had everything a rally day could offer.”
#308 – Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall"Today is one of those days where there’s a lot to talk about. The special stage has definitely been the most difficult one of this ‘Dakar’ so far. Particularly in the sand we had to work hard, we got stuck several times and had to dig ourselves out. On several occasions we let some air out of the tyres and filled them up again after the difficult passages.
Once we got stuck, and when I left the car I only then realized we’d lost the rear part of the body – I haven’t noticed beforehand that we’d lost it at all. We were leading for a long time, but lost time again at the end. The overall gap between me and my team colleague Giniel de Villiers is small now – but the main thing is that a Volkswagen will be in front in the end.”
#305 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"It was an incredibly rough day for us. Although the special stage today was short, it was extremely slow. The organiser selected routes with large stones, deep and super-soft sand. In addition, there were some places left out in the roadbook, which of course made the navigation extremely difficult. But about five kilometres before the finish my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz made up a lot of time for us when he found the quickest way while others were still looking for it.”#307 – Dieter Depping (D), 4th place leg / 7th place overall"I think today wasn’t just 100 per cent ‘Dakar’, it was more like 120 per cent ‘Dakar’. The dunes were incredibly hard to
handle, lots of vegetation that made life difficult for us, and we had to cross riverbeds several times. My co-driver Timo Gottschalk had his work cut out for him. Many branch-offs were hard to see and the roadbook led us astray several times today as well. So, today had everything a rally day could offer.”#308 – Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall"Today is one of those days where there’s a lot to talk about. The special stage has definitely been the most difficult one of this ‘Dakar’ so far. Particularly in the sand we had to work hard, we got stuck several times and had to dig ourselves out. On several occasions we let some air out of the tyres and filled them up again after the difficult passages.
Once we got stuck, and when I left the car I only then realized we’d lost the rear part of the body – I haven’t noticed beforehand that we’d lost it at all. We were leading for a long time, but lost time again at the end. The overall gap between me and my team colleague Giniel de Villiers is small now – but the main thing is that a Volkswagen will be in front in the end.”Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 9: Sainz takes fifth Dakar stage victory
Autosport.com
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.
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.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 6 - San Rafael - Mendoza - Breaking News: Al-Attiyah disqualified
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. (Marathonrally.com)
Standings after stage 6
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Dakar 2009: Stage 5, Neuquen-San Rafael: 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. (Autosport.com)
Standings after stage 5
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. (Autosport.com)
Standings after stage 5
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
5th Gear BMW X5 E53 DAKAR
This is a wonderful video about how a biker needs a support vehicle for the Dakar race. Here a challenge between both bike and it's support.
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