Dakar 2009 - 1980 winners congratulate VW on Dakar victory

29 years ago, on 23 January 1980, Freddy Kottulinsky/Gerhard Löffelmann clinched the first victory for Volkswagen at the "2nd Paris-Algiers-Dakar Rally” in the Iltis, ahead of their French team-mates Patrick Zaniroli/Philippe Colesse.
Back then as well as today, Volkswagen celebrated a one-two victory: Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz won the current edition of the desert classic, which ended in Buenos Aires on Sunday after 9,500 kilometres, in front of their team colleagues Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford in the Race Touareg. On the way towards clinching the first victory of a diesel-powered vehicle Volkswagen decided ten out of 13 stages in its favour at the first "Dakar” through Argentina and Chile.

The one-two victory prompted the driver pairing that had been victorious in 1980 to congratulate Volkswagen. ”Ever since I won the rally, I’ve been watching it in the media,” said Freddy Kottulinsky, who is now living near Schleiz in Thuringia. "I wanted to express my sincerest congratulations to Volkswagen on the historic TDI victory. Even though an exploit in our day with naturally aspirated diesel engines would have been inconceivable, I had no doubt that a diesel would win one day. In passenger cars, modern diesel technology has long become the ultimate.”
Kottulinsky/Löffelmann in the Iltis: unusual conditions in 1980

"Of course I’ve actively been watching Volkswagen’s current path to victory in the media as well, and congratulate the squad,” said former co-driver Gerhard Löffelmann. Back then, he was working for AUDI AG in Technical Development; today, he is a team leader in vehicle engineering, still with the same department. After almost 30 years, the differences in conditions are tremendous. We only drove with a compass, now there are modern GPS systems, even though their use is restricted. What’s more, I didn’t even have any experience as a co-driver. My main role was that of a mechanic who had to be able to repair the car and to thus help to take it to the finish.” Löffelmann still has the roadbook. It was all in French and then team boss Roland Gumpert – the driver of a rally Iltis himself – helped to translate it every night at the bivouac.

Back in 1980, an almost entirely production-based Volkswagen Iltis sufficed to achieve the duo’s victory. The off-road vehicle was only complemented by underbody protection, modified dampers, a roll cage, different seats, additional instruments and a further fuel tank. The standard 1.7-litre engine delivered about 110 instead of 75 hp for the 10,000-kilometre rally distance from France via Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and (then) Upper Volta, all the way to Senegal. "That was enough to win,” recalled Kottulinsky. As much as he enjoyed his activities as a racing and rally driver in his day, he still has a wish, "I’d really be thrilled to drive today’s Race Touareg just for once ..."

Dakar 2009 - Round-up Cars

In Spanish

Dakar 2009: De Villiers claims historic Dakar win

Autosport.com

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.

Dakar 2009: Volkswaguen celebrates 1-2 victory and first diesel engine triumph in a Dakar

Only when passing the toughest motorsport test with flying colours, only when winning ten of 13 possible stages, and only when thrilling millions of people along the rally route in the process – only then will it be deemed "Das Auto” ("The Car”).

Volkswagen won the 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile with the Race Touareg and thus made motorsport history. The exploit clinched by the South African-German duo Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz in the debut event of the legendary desert classic in South America marked the first ever victory of a diesel-powered vehicle in the automobile class in the 30-year-history of the "Dakar”. Their Volkswagen team colleagues Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) as the runners-up completed the exploit as a one-two victory.
In the extremely tough test for man and material the Volkswagen Race Touareg with its innovative 280-hp TDI engine proved to be the fastest and most reliable car, while the field of contenders – featuring 14 top cars with diesel engines – was of a higher calibre than ever. Volkswagen defeated the serial "Dakar” winners, Mitsubishi, who had not been beaten since 2001, as well as the X-raid BMW team. Besides de Villiers/von Zitzewitz and Miller/Pitchford at the top, the German duo Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk in another Race Touareg finished the Dakar Rally, in sixth place overall. Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) in another one of the Red Bull blue Race Touareg vehicles, who had been leading the class of the total of 168 cars that had started to the event on eight days, retired after an accident on the twelfth leg while leading the rally.
36-year-old Giniel de Villiers from Stellenbosch had already clinched second place at the "Dakar” in the Race Touareg in 2006. In 2003, the former South African touring car champion contested his first Dakar Rally, since 2006 he has been navigated by Dirk von Zitzewitz. The 40-year-old from Karlshof, and 15-time German Enduro champion, contested his first first "Dakar” on two wheels, switched into the cockpit as a co-driver in 2002, alongside Mark Miller by the way, and formed a team with Robby Gordon (2005) for Volkswagen as well. Since 2007 Dirk von Zitzewitz has been pointing the right way to Giniel de Villiers. 46-year-old Mark Miller from Phoenix/Arizona drove his first "Dakar” in 2002 and has been a Volkswagen factory driver since 2005, with Ralph Pitchford from Pretoria in his co-driver’s seat since 2006.
Straight from the rally’s start, the Race Touareg crews set best stage times. A total of ten out of 13 possible stage wins at the "Dakar” went to Volkswagen, on twelve of the 14 rally days one of the cross-country rally prototypes from Wolfsburg was leading the event. The duo Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn decided six of the stages in its favour, while de Villiers/von Zitzewitz contributed four stage wins to the Race Touareg’s tally of success. In just five fieldings in the cross-country classic the prototype has achieved 31 stage victories since 2004, Volkswagen’s "Dakar” tally since 1980 reflects 38 stage wins. At the same time, the four Volkswagen pairings contesting this event showed a very close performance: On the 14 legs – one stage was cancelled by the organiser A.S.O. – the Volkswagen drivers occupied 24 of 39 possible top-three positions in the daily standings. Each of the duos finished at least three of the special stages in the top three places.
Race Touareg adds yet another chapter to TDI Power’s success story 
For the Volkswagen Group, the Race Touareg’s "Dakar” victory also marked the continuation of a TDI success story. In motorsport, forward-thinking direct injection technology has now won in any of the fields in which it is being used: In addition to the exploit of the Race Touareg at the Dakar Rally, Audi – with the R10 TDI – celebrated its third consecutive victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2008 and later won the title in the European Le Mans Series as well as in the American Le Mans Series, while SEAT in 2008 clinched its maiden title in the FIA World Touring Car Championship with the Léon TDI.

VW thrills spectators along the toughest "Dakar” route
The Dakar Rally’s debut in South America has proved to be the toughest edition of the off-road classic so far as well as featuring a totally new change. Besides quick gravel stages – the first leg was completed at an average speed of 143 km/h – and long stretches of dune fields with soft sand, trial-like sections across scree, the two-time passage across the Andes with altitudes of up to 4,700 metres above mean sea level as well as sections with high camel grass were on the agenda of the "Dakar”. Unlike earlier editions, the rally’s daily variations of terrain put extreme demands on the adaptability of the teams.

Arriving at the bivouac and the locations where the legs finished provided an emotional reward to the drivers and co-drivers. Millions of thrilled spectators, 500,000 of them just during the ceremonial start in Buenos Aires on 2 January, lined the rally route and gave the total of 530 cross-country rally teams that had started to the event on motorcycles and quads as well as in cars and trucks an enthusiastic welcome every day.
Second "Dakar” exploit for Volkswagen after 1980

As early as in 1980 Volkswagen at its first – and for a long time only – entry won the Dakar Rally. Almost three decades ago, Freddy Kottulinsky and co-driver Gerhard Löffelmann won the second edition of the rally through Africa at the wheel of a Volkswagen Iltis, a nearly production-based car, followed by their French team-mates Patrick Zaniroli/Philippe Colesse – clinching a Volkswagen one-two victory back then as well. Two further Iltis vehicles finished in places four and nine. In 2003, Volkswagen returned to cross-country rally racing with breakthrough TDI technology, fielded the first generation of the Race Touareg in 2004 and won the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup titles in 2005 and 2007. The one-two victory at the 2009 Dakar Rally marks the Race Touareg’s biggest single exploit. (VW-Motorsport)

Dakar 2009 - La Rioja - Cordoba: Video Stage 13 Cars

In Spanish (longer)


In English

Dakar 2009 - Stage 13 - La Rioja - Cordoba: Nani Roma wins stage for Mitsubishi at last

Pending validation by the race stewards, Spaniard Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) has given the Japanese manufacturer its first stage victory on this 31st Dakar, which is also Nani’s first stage victory on four-wheels in a Dakar! In this 13th stage, the Spaniard took the lead by 7’18" over Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (Nissan), and by 7’27" over French driver Guerlain Chicherit (BMW). However there has been no change in the general standings where South-African driver Giniel De Villiers (VW) is still in command, 2’20" ahead of his US team-mate Mark Miller (VW), and 1h27’13" ahead of the Hummer of Robby Gordon. Victim of a mechanical problem after

 hitting a big boulder, the US driver still holds the lead in the Open category but looses his first stage in this category to his team-mate, Frenchman Eric Vigouroux. Finally, in the Production category, Japanese driver Jun Mitsuhashi (Toyota) has won stage 13 but it is still France’s Nicolas Gibon (Toyota) who leads the general standings.

 Joan "Nani" Roma (Esp - MITSU) - 304

Yesterday was a stage like there are many on rally-raids. You must always expect this kind of ups and downs on a race like the Dakar. Today, I drove well. The car responded well too. This stage victory is a satisfaction for everybody. Now, we are going to go back to Buenos Aires without taking too much risk. I am not disappointed at the end of this Dakar.

 Krisztof Holowczyc (Pol – Nissan) - 317

"Today was a great stage for me. It’s funny because this morning, Jean Marc (Fortin) and I, we were saying: ’do you remember back in 1999, we had lost a wheel of our Subaru in WRC right here. It was rather easy for us, not too heavy on the car that does lack a bit of power. In the sand, we loose time but on this type of trail, it’s easy to drive. Some parts of the special stage were the same as in the WRC Rally of Argentina. This allows drivers to express their talents on more technical sections."

 Giniel De Villiers (Afs - Volkswagen) - 305

"I think we can call this a team stage. The most important is to reach the finish particularly after loosing a car yesterday. The manager wanted us to drive like this today and we abide by the wishes of the team. It’s important for Volkswagen to finish the Dakar in first and second places. We don’t want to take any chances anymore. It would be meaningless. We worked hard to get to this and throwing it all away on the last two stages would not be clever. For now, I am happy of my Dakar. It could have been better. But this is how it goes with the Dakar."

TEAM DAKAR USA

Posted by on Jan 16, 2009, 18:26

“Obviously, I wish that the No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer would have had a better outcome today. Regardless of a pesky little rock getting in our way, I am still happy with where we stand going into the last stage tomorrow. Even though we haven’t won any specials yet this year, we are still here competing for the Dakar Rally title and that is what that matters. This race is about survival and preparation, and Team Dakar USA has excelled at both. We have been able to address the problems, fix them, and continue forward. Both cars are still in the race, and I couldn’t be more proud of the Team Dakar USA program,” commented Robby Gordon.

Standings after Stage 13

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.”

#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.”

Dakar 2009 - Stage 12: Fiambala - La Rioja: Sainz crashes out of Dakar rally

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 Giniels de Villers in the lead, pending the end of today's stage.

The 3 first cars have now reached the end of this 12th stage and - against all odds - it is South-African driver Giniel De Villiers (VW), who was timed 3rd, 2’12" behind Miller at CP2, who wins. This is his 3rd stage victory this year and his 11th on a Dakar. More importantly, with a 16’17" over his US team-mate Mark Miller (VW), De Villiers is now taking the lead in the general standings after the withdrawal of Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (VW) today. 3rd fastest clock today, 25’27" behind the winner, American driver Robby Gordon (Hummer) is now more than 1h15" behing the leaders in the general standings.

Michel Périn (copilot to C. Sainz - 301 - VW) - 301

We had made a small mistake in the first part. We took the wrong direction at a Y crossing but it was not too bad because we did end up on the right trail. We were tailing Giniel De Villiers who had started about 10’ after us so it was still sort of OK. Then there was a hidden waypoint with a wadi indicated as ’danger’. But it should have been indicated as ’extremely dangerous’. By the way, the car behind us, Nani Roma’s car, would have fallen in the same hole as we did if we had not been there already. I’m ok; I just have something broken in my arm, but I’m alright.

Giniel De Villiers (Afs - Volkswagen) - 305

"It was really a tough stage. In places we would go around in circles for 15’ to find the right trail. It was very dangerous and the sand was really soft. We stopped a first time to deflate our tyres. Then a second time in a huge canyon with tons of boulders. Dirk (Von Zitzewitz) had to get out of the car to find a way out. It was really a tough day."

Patronelli hits hard!

The first 3 quads have now reached the end of the day’s special stage and Argentinian driver Marcos Patronelli (Can-Am) is today’s winner; this is his 3rd stage victory of the rally and a big one it is with a 35’56" (!) lead over leader in the general standings, Czech driver Josef Machacek (Yamaha), and 36’02" over Frenchman Hubert Deltrieu (Polaris).

3rd stage victory for Despres

The first 7 bikes have now reached the finish of today’s special stage and French rider Cyril Despres (KTM) wins the stage; it is the Frenchman’s third stage victory in this 31st edition of the Dakar, he finishes with a 1’23" lead on the leader in the general standings, Spain’s Marc Coma (KTM), and 9’51" ahead of France’s David Casteu (KTM).

 A surprising third place for Farrès Guell!

After starting today’s stage 20th this morning, Spain’s Gerard Farrès Guell (KTM) had the 3rd fastest clock of the day’s special stage, finishing 9’47" behind winner Cyril Despres (KTM), but 4" ahead of French rider David Casteu (VW), who is now fourth of today’s stage.

Standings after Stage 12

Dakar 2009 - Stage 10 Revisited

Dakar 2009 - Stage 10 Video Cars

Dakar 2009 - Stage 10: Sainz makes it once again

Carlos Sainz in a VW Race Touareg won Stage 10, which started and ended in Copiapo, Chile. The most difficult Stage of the Dakar 2009 so far. The Spaniard alternated first place of this amazing special in the infamous Atacama desert, one of the driest on earth, with O. Terranova and Robby Gordon. Terranova, the Argentine driver of the BMW X-Raid team turned over his car at km 180, just 2 km after passing a check point, the car was destroyed but the crew were rescued unscathed it seems. Robby Gordon in his brutal Hummer did a great job right until the end of the stage and came in second to C. Sainz for only 21 seconds. 3rd place was for Mark Miller also in a VW Race Touareg, 7 min 39 sec behind Sainz. 4th place was for G. Chicherit with BMW (12:25),5th came in Joan Roma, the last surviving Mitsubishi Racing Lancer at 15:01 min. 6th was Giniel de Villiers with a VW Touareg at 18:15 min. The race is still on at this time, as ASO, the organizer delayed the start for almost 2 hours this morning on account of the prevailing fog (the helicopters for rescue, television and the organization could not take off). The stage was also shortened in 200 km as there were dunes with far too soft sand for the up to now tired crews to traverse. It seems the French organizers are weary that there will not be enough vehicles to end the race. There are still 5 more stages to go and it is believed that the Stage in Fiambala, La Rioja, Argentina is extremely difficult and shall be raced in marathon style, not allowing the vehicles to be serviced or repaired after the stage, only the crews by themselves will be allowed to repair. Tomorrow is the last stage in Chile and off they go back into Argentina by one of the highest passes there are in the Andes mountains. We'll have to wait and see who survives this last leg in Chile. 

Carlos Sainz now leads the 2009 Dakar Rally-Raid by 27:31 minutes over his team mate Mark Miller, De Villiers is third 41:13 minutes from Sainz, 4th is Roma at 1:13:13 hour.

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.

Standings after Stage 9

Dakar 2009: Stage 8 - Valparaíso - La Serena Video

See more Dakar 2009 videos here

Dakar 2009: Video Stage 7 - Cars

Standings after Stage 7

Dakar 2009: Video of Stage 3 - Cars

See a Robby Gordon video on-board his Hummer

Dakar 2009 - Stage 3 - Cars Interviews

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qat - 302 - BMW) - 302

Today, I had to attack. I lost a lot of time in yesterday’s stage so I had to take that into account and push hard during this special stage. So I drove fast and passed Terranova, then Miller, etc. And eventually, 80 km before the finish, I even passe a bike who went astray towards the left at the same time so I avoided him and ran flat. We lost about 3 min changing the tyre but then we drove on as fast as ever.

Now, I know that Carlos and I, we will be playing the game. Tomorrow, he will start behind me and I’m sure he will be putting the pressure on pretty quickly in the race.

Stéphane Peterhansel (Fra - 300 - Mitsubishi) - 300

"It was a fast stage. We had a hard time keeping the lead car in our sight. We lost time little by little. From then on, there was nothing but dust and without a pacemaker in front, it was hard to keep going. We finished with a delay. I hope we will find more technical routes with some tech crossing because this is how we can thing about making a difference. The car is going well; its performances are ok. But now we need bumpier trails to make the best of its good suspension and great balance."

Giniel De Villiers (Afs - 305 - VW) - 304

It was a pretty nice stage; this time, there were more sinuous sections and I found this more interesting than the two previous ones. It was very fast in the beginning and very fast at the end as well, so there were not many opportunities to create big gaps. We just tried to drive clean and avoid boulders as there were many on the trail. For now, we must keep putting pressure on the Mitsubishis. So far, we have had no problems so we will try to keep going that way and we’ll see what happens.

Dakar 2009: Al-Attiyah fastest again on day three

Carlos Sainz still in the lead

By Matt Beer (Autosport.com) Monday, January 5th 2009, 17:51 GMT

Nassar Al-Attiyah took his second stage win of the 2009 Dakar Rally on day three, but a puncture meant he was unable to significantly reduce Carlos Sainz's overall lead.

X-Raid BMW driver Al-Attiyah had led the event after the opening stage, only to drop back when he went off-course on Sunday and struggled to find the correct route afterwards.

He looked set to make up for that today, when he reached the second checkpoint of the 551-kilometre Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci stage 2:45 faster than the rest of the field, but a puncture then cost him a lot of time in the final section.

Although Al-Attiyah still managed to win the stage, his margin over second-fastest man Sainz was eventually just 35 seconds, which means that the VW driver is now 3:40 ahead of Al-Attiyah in the overall standings.
"In the last 50 kilometres there was one bike that jumped in front of us and we hit some rocks and had to change the tyres," said Al-Attiyah, who still moved up from fourth to second on the leaderboard.

"I think it's cost us about two minutes, but really this was a very good run - no problems in all the 550 kilometres except the puncture. It's good we are here (at the finish) and the car is working very well. I think we did a good job today.

"We're taking care of the car because it's a long rally, but I think one day we must really push a lot to make good times. But at the moment it's good going and we'll see what happens."

Sainz's teammate Giniel de Villiers has dropped from second to third after a cautious run through today's stage.
It was a bad day for the usually-dominant Mitsubishi team, with 2006 Dakar victor Luc Alphand stopping for nearly half an hour in the stage with an apparent mechanical problem, and 2007 winner Stephane Peterhansel losing time to Al-Attiyah throughout the stage and finishing five and a half minutes off the pace. He is now fourth overall, ahead of teammate Joan Roma and VW's Mark Miller.

Dieter Depping was third quickest in today's stage, but is over an hour behind the leaders in the overall times having suffered costly electrical problems on Saturday.

Standings after Stage 3

Dakar 2009: First Interviews after Stage 2.

At the wheel of a Race Touareg with a slightly crumpled right wing, Carlos Sainz crossed the finishing line of today’s special stage as the winner… The Spaniard also takes the lead in the general standings. "It was a very difficult stage with all the dust and the bikes. At times, we nearly had to stop. I even hit a biker at one point; I hope he’s going to be ok". 

1.56 behind the day’s winner Carlos Sainz, Giniel De Villiers displayed good consistency by finishing 3rd in the special stage, like yesterday. "The start of the special was very quick, but as soon as we arrived in the off-track part, it was not very easy to navigate and we got a little bit lost. We must have lost a minute or two. Then in the last section, there was lots of fesh-fesh, so it was very difficult to get past the bikers. But I tried to be cautious and avoid any mishaps. We didn’t do too badly". 

Slowly but surely, the title holder is getting stronger. While still adapting to his brand new Mitsubishi Lancer, Peterhansel manage to pick up second place on the special. "This special stage was a bit more technical. There was some off-terrain work for the first time, so we had to be on our guard. But, it was okay. I caught up with Luc (Alphand) at one point. After that, we ended up in the dust thrown up by the bikers then by Miller (VW). It wasn’t very nice, until we were able to overtake him. It was a short special but, in spite of that, there were some big fesh-fesh sections with quite thick vegetation. We were almost stopped at that point, because visibility was down to 1 or 2 meters. The bikers were all over the place, so we had to be very careful". (Marathonrally.com)