2009 Dakar : Volkswagen leads with three cars at halfway point

Back to the leader : 301 Carlos SAINZ - Michel PERIN - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2

Volkswagen leads the Dakar Rally with three Race Touareg cars, ahead of Saturday’s rest day and after seven of the 14 legs.


January 9, 2009

Stage 7
MENDOZA (Argentina) to VALPARAISO (Chile)
Road section: 80km - SS7: 243.36km - Road section: 492.64km
Total Distance: 816km.

Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) took over at the top on the seventh leg of the rally from Mendoza in Argentina to the Chilean city of Valparaíso. The former front-runners and Volkswagen team colleagues, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), trail them by just nine seconds. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA), driving a third Race Touareg with a 280 hp TDI diesel engine, are now third overall.

Carlos Sainz achieved his third leg victory on today's difficult leg, which included the first Andes crossing of this first "Dakar” to be held in South America, thus placing him back at the top of the leader board. The day's special stage was shortened from 419 to 243 kilometres due to inclement weather and rainfall overnight resulted in some treacherous driving conditions. Mark Miller is celebrating a double victory, having posted the second fastest time of the day and thus having given his best performance so far in this year's legendary "Dakar”, which has been a tough one right from the start.

Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz ceded their lead today, after losing time due to a puncture and visibility problems on today's muddy route, and were the sixth team to cross the finishing line. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk, who lost a lot of time in the fourth Race Touareg yesterday, made good ground today to take twelfth place, moving them up in the overall rankings to ninth.

Volkswagen's appraisal after seven legs: Volkswagen can lay claim to five leg victories and five days of leading the rally, and now dominates the event ahead of Mitsubishi, who have remained unbeaten in the "Dakar” since 2001. The second half of this desert classic will get under way on Sunday, after Saturday's rest day which will primarily serve as an opportunity to thoroughly service the rally vehicles. Seven legs now remain, covering a total distance of 4,622 kilometres.

Peterhansel retires en route to chile - Stephane PETERHANSEL of Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's turbo-diesel ’Racing Lancer’ sustained a small fire early in the stage. A terminal engine problem occurred after 114km and the nine-times Dakar winner was sidelined before the passage through the Andes into Chile.

Stage 7 : Classification

Pos	DriverCo-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	TotalTime	DiffLeader
1	Carlos SAINZ Michel PERIN	E F	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:35:27	**:**
2	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:39:08	+3:41
3	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	2:39:40	+4:13
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	2:41:04	+5:37
5	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	2:41:35	+6:08
6	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:43:15	+7:48
7	Bob GORDON Willaim HIGMAN	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	2:46:57	+11:30
8	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	2:49:23	+13:56
9	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	2:55:07	+19:40
10	Tonnie VAN DEIJNE Wouter ROSEGAAR	NL NL	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	2:55:56	+20:29
11	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	2:56:30	+21:03
12	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	3:00:28	+25:01
13	Bernard ERRANDONEA Jean-Pierre GARCIN	F F	SMG V8 BUGGY	T1.3	3:05:51	+30:24
14	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	3:06:56	+31:29
15	Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN	D D	HONDA BUGGY	T1.3	3:07:28	+32:01
16	Thierry MAGNALDI Guy LENEVEU	F F	SMG PORSCHE BUGGY	T1.3	3:09:15	+33:48
17	Maris SAUKANS Didzis ZARINS	LVA LVA	OSC OSCAR 03	T1.1	3:13:54	+38:27
18	Pascal THOMASSE Pascal LARROQUE	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	3:20:58	+45:31
19	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	3:21:13	+45:46
20	Jun MITSUHASHI Bruno CATTARELLI	J F	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	3:22:42	+47:15

Overall : Classification

Pos	DriverCo-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	TotalTime	DiffLeader
1	Carlos SAINZ Michel PERIN	E F	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	23:42:40	**:**
2	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	23:42:49	+0:09
3	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	23:56:33	+13:53
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	24:11:56	+29:16
5	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	24:51:01	+1:08:21
6	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	26:22:12	+2:39:32
7	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	26:46:01	+3:03:21
8	Orlando TERRANOVA Alain GUEHENNEC	RA F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	27:47:33	+4:04:53
9	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	28:30:23	+4:47:43
10	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	28:42:31	+4:59:51
11	Tonnie VAN DEIJNE Wouter ROSEGAAR	NL NL	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	29:12:58	+5:30:18
12	Laszlo PALIK Gabor DARAZSI	HON HON	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	29:53:28	+6:10:48
13	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	30:08:26	+6:25:46
14	Jean DE AZEVEDO Youssef HADDAD	BRA BRA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	T1.1	33:14:00	+9:31:20
15	Boris BUKATOV Sergey DODONOV	RUS RUS	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	T1.1	33:19:30	+9:36:50
16	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	33:41:27	+9:58:47
17	Ilya KUZNETSOV Andrey NESHIN	RUS RUS	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	34:43:19	+11:00:39
18	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	34:52:54	+11:10:14
19	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	34:54:25	+11:11:45
20	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	34:54:34	+11:11:54

Andes Mountains

[Source : 2009 DAKAR, Volkswagen Motorsport, Mitsubishi Ralliart, New Dimension X-RAID]