2009 Dakar : Volkswagen goes to Dakar Rally’s final spurt with leading trio

Carlos SAINZ/Michel PERIN - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2

Volkswagen continues running in front at “Dakar” with three cars
Mitsubishi’s Roma Survives Marathon Atacama Special Stage And Maintains Fourth Place

JANUARY 13, 2009

Stage 10

COPIAPO (Chile) to COPIAPO (Chile)
Road section: 20km - SS10: 476km - Road section: 0km
Total Distance: 496km

Volkswagen has kept the upper hand with three cars leading the event, even on the extremely demanding tenth leg of the 2009 Dakar Rally.

Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) in the Race Touareg extended their advantage in the overall classification by another 7.39 minutes, to 27.31 minutes. On the loop around Copiapó in Chile, which contained a lot of camel grass and high dune fields with soft sand as well as stony and rough sections, the duo clinched its sixth stage victory with a narrow lead. After 470 kilometres through the Atacama desert merely 21 seconds separated the Volkswagen team from Robby Gordon/Andy Grider (USA/USA) in the Hummer. For Sainz, who is just contesting his third "Dakar”, this marked as much as the 15th stage victory in the off-road classic.

Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) solidified their second place overall in the rally by setting the third-best time of the day despite a puncture. They reached the finish 7.39 minutes behind Sainz. Their team colleagues Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) drove the sixth-best time with an 18.15-minute gap on the loop that was shortened by about 200 kilometres versus the original planning due to the delayed start in the morning on account of fog. 20 kilometres before the finish they had gotten stuck in deep sand in a blind area near the top of a dune. In the overall classification, the South African-German pairing remains in third place, now ranking 41.13 minutes behind the front runners.

For the first time, Volkswagen's outright advantage over their best rival has increased to over one hour: ranking fourth overall, Nani Roma/Lucas Cruz (E/E) as the only remaining Mitsubishi team are trailing Carlos Sainz by as much as 1:13 hour. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk in a further Volkswagen Touareg experienced a strange accident that set them back quite a bit. Behind the top of a dune, at the bottom of the next valley, they noticed their stranded compatriot Matthias Kahle but were not able to slow down their Race Touareg while running downhill in the sand and slid into the rear of the German's Buggy. After digging themselves out of the sand and losing time in the process, both teams were able to continue the rally.

Mitsubishi Thailand-backed Mana Pornsiricherd (Thailand) and co-driver Thierry Lacambre (France) began the stage in 35th place and held 34th overall through the fourth PC, but were facing a battle against time to reach the bivouac before nightfall.

Stage 10 : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Carlos SAINZ Michel PERIN	E F	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	5:32:55	:
2	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	5:33:16	+0:21
3	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	5:40:34	+7:39
4	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	5:45:20	+12:25
5	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	5:47:56	+15:01
6	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	5:51:10	+18:15
7	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	6:24:20	+51:25
8	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	6:41:54	+1:08:59
9	Eric BERNARD Jean-Noel CORNUAILLE	F F	BMW TRIO	T1.2	6:42:53	+1:09:58
10	Bob GORDON Willaim HIGMAN	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	6:45:06	+1:12:11
11	Alexey BERKUT Anton NIKOLEAV	RUS RUS	MITSUBISHI PAJERO EVOLUTION	T1.1	6:52:14	+1:19:19
12	Ricardo LEAL DOS SANTOS Pedro PIRES DE LIMA	P P	BMW X5 CC	T1.2	6:52:38	+1:19:43
13	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	6:57:23	+1:24:28
14	Bernard ERRANDONEA Jean-Pierre GARCIN	F F	SMG V8 BUGGY	T1.3	6:58:51	+1:25:56
15	Isabelle PATISSIER Theirry DELLI-ZOTTI	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	7:10:43	+1:37:48
16	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	7:10:58	+1:38:03
17	Laszlo PALIK Gabor DARAZSI	HON HON	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	7:19:26	+1:46:31
18	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	7:25:30	+1:52:35
19	Jean DE AZEVEDO Youssef HADDAD	BRA BRA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	T1.1	7:32:39	+1:59:44
20	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	7:33:56	+2:01:01

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	38:59:02	:
2	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	39:26:33	+27:31
3	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	39:40:15	+41:13
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	40:12:15	+1:13:13
5	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	40:33:40	+1:34:38
6	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	44:13:20	+5:14:18
7	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	44:50:58	+5:51:56
8	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	47:00:53	+8:01:51
9	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	47:31:36	+8:32:34
10	Laszlo PALIK Gabor DARAZSI	HON HON	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	48:49:31	+9:50:29
11	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	48:52:28	+9:53:26
12	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	52:03:56	+13:04:54
13	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	52:31:06	+13:32:04
14	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	53:54:00	+14:54:58
15	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	55:02:40	+16:03:38
16	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	55:05:52	+16:06:50
17	Bob GORDON Willaim HIGMAN	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	55:37:51	+16:38:49
18	Bernard ERRANDONEA Jean-Pierre GARCIN	F F	SMG V8 BUGGY	T1.3	58:16:30	+19:17:28
19	Isabelle PATISSIER Theirry DELLI-ZOTTI	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	60:10:59	+21:11:57
20	Eric BERNARD Jean-Noel CORNUAILLE	F F	BMW TRIO	T1.2	61:32:54	+22:33:52