2009 Dakar : The second half begins

Joan ROMA/Lucas CRUZ - Mitsubishi Racing Lancer

Volkswagen starts perfectly to second half of Dakar Rally
Mitsubishi’s Roma maintains fourth place with marked improvement.
X-Raid’s chicherit continues his climb with sixth.

JANUARY 11, 2009

Stage 8
VALPARAISO (Chile) to LA SERENA (Chile)
Road section: 245km - SS8: 294km - Road section: 113km
Total Distance: 652km

Volkswagen started the second week of the Dakar Rally exactly the way the first half on Friday before the rest day had ended: by securing a triple stage win and maintaining its previous one-two-three lead.

The day's best result was clinched yet again by Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), who scored a fourth stage victory in the Race Touareg, thus further extending their overall lead.

On the eighth leg from Valparaíso to La Serena in Chile, which put the concentration and fitness of the drivers and co-drivers to the test on gravel tracks, like those featured in sprint rallies, and on long serpentine sections, the German Volkswagen duo Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk reached the destination in second position with a 4.02-minute gap to Sainz/Périn. Another ten seconds later, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the third of the Race Touareg vehicles sporting Red Bull blue followed in third place.

In fifth place, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) finished the eighth special stage but lost 10.48 minutes on the 652-kilometre leg in the dust of their rivals and due to a slow puncture. In the overall classification de Villiers is now trailing his Spanish team-mate Sainz by 10.57 minutes. Miller, with an 18.05-minute gap, continues ranking in third position. Depping advanced to eighth overall, but is almost five hours behind.

Volkswagen's best immediate rival, Mitsubishi driver Nani Roma, in fourth place overall dropped by a further 4.15 minutes to a 33.31-minute gap to Sainz.

Stage 8 : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Carlos SAINZ Michel PERIN	E F	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	3:47:19	:
2	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	3:51:21	+4:02
3	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	3:51:31	+4:12
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	3:51:34	+4:15
5	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	3:58:07	+10:48
6	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	3:58:51	+11:32
7	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	4:04:52	+17:33
8	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	4:10:59	+23:40
9	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	4:13:30	+26:11
10	Tonnie VAN DEIJNE Wouter ROSEGAAR	NL NL	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	4:14:50	+27:31
11	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	4:20:30	+33:11
12	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	4:21:11	+33:52
13	Laszlo PALIK Gabor DARAZSI	HON HON	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	4:22:05	+34:46
14	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	4:23:04	+35:45
15	Jun MITSUHASHI Bruno CATTARELLI	J F	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	4:27:01	+39:42
16	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	4:27:10	+39:51
17	Chris LEYDA Alister MCRAE	NL GB	MCRAE ENDURO	T3	4:27:16	+39:57
18	Ricardo LEAL DOS SANTOS Pedro PIRES DE LIMA	P P	BMW X5 CC	T1.2	4:28:17	+40:58
19	Francisco INOCENCIO Paulo FIUZA	P P	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	T1.2	4:28:43	+41:24
20	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	4:28:48	+41:29

Overall : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Carlos SAINZ Michel PERIN	E F	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	27:29:59	:
2	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	27:40:56	+10:57
3	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	27:48:04	+18:05
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	28:03:30	+33:31
5	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	29:02:00	+1:32:01
6	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	30:27:04	+2:57:05
7	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	30:59:31	+3:29:32
8	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	32:21:44	+4:51:45
9	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	33:03:42	+5:33:43
10	Orlando TERRANOVA Alain GUEHENNEC	RA F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	33:24:40	+5:54:41
11	Tonnie VAN DEIJNE Wouter ROSEGAAR	NL NL	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	33:27:48	+5:57:49
12	Laszlo PALIK Gabor DARAZSI	HON HON	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	34:15:33	+6:45:34
13	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	34:28:56	+6:58:57
14	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	38:08:37	+10:38:38
15	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	38:53:16	+11:23:17
16	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	39:21:42	+11:51:43
17	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	39:25:05	+11:55:06
18	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	39:27:13	+11:57:14
19	Boris BUKATOV Sergey DODONOV	RUS RUS	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	T1.1	40:06:00	+12:36:01
20	Xavier FOJ Joan PUJOLAR	E E	TOYOTA LAND CRUISER	T2.2	40:37:59	+13:08:00