Volkswagen celebrates “Dakar’s” first diesel triumph with one-two victory

2009 DAKAR Champion : Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2

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.

17 JANUARY 2009

Stage 14
CORDOBA (Argentina) to BUENOS AIRES (Argentina)
Road section: 224km - SS14: 227km - Road section: 341km
Total Distance: 792km

The suspense as to the final victory was seriously reduced at the start of this last special stage, the team orders of the Volkswagen team had already been respected to the letter the day before. Apart from a serious - and very unlikely - driving error or a mechanical breakdown, nothing could deprive Giniel De Villiers from his first Dakar victory. But the South-African driver decided to play the card of calculated risk, just to add even more panache to his already convincing track-record this year.

The victory of the last stage to be won near Rosario was the last prestigious award of this edition, so Guerlain Chicherit fought hard to finish as fast as he started this morning making sure that he would keep the wheels of his X3 under its center of gravity still. Its efforts were rewarded by the best clock at CP1, but the man in the lead of the race then reasserted his authority. For the next clocks, it was Leonid Novitskiy and Krzysztof Holowczyc who were De Villiers’ main opponents. A master in his art, on fast and windy trails that he knows as well as the sand they are made of, the South-African played it naturally cool. Easy! With a fourth stage victory this year - the 12th in his Dakar career - De Villiers further strengthened his lead over his team-mate Mark Miller, second in the general standings at 8’59’’.

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.

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"We did it: We wanted to be the first automobile manufacturer to win the Dakar Rally with diesel power. We have now managed to do this, and with a one-two victory at that. Volkswagen can truly be proud of this historic triumph. We've got ‘Das Auto', we've got ‘The Team' and together we have won ‘The Race'. Celebrating a one-two victory at this extremely tough rally is a major achievement. We not only beat our strongest rivals, Mitsubishi and X-raid-BMW, but prevailed against the Dakar Rally itself. It was more challenging, demanding and murderous on the material than ever. But Volkswagen was tougher, more reliable: Three of our four cars reached the finish, and not one of the Race Touareg vehicles retired due to a technical problem. I want to congratulate and thank the entire team and our successful drivers and co-drivers.”

#305 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"I'm so happy about having clinched this exploit for Volkswagen. This victory is worth more than any of the titles I won in touring car racing. The twelfth leg was the crucial day. Just before it I'd thought we'd be finishing in third place. I kept thinking about how our rival Stéphane Peterhansel lost the rally with a huge lead one day before the finish in 2003. And so we again led the rally after the twelfth leg as well. The Race Touareg was running absolutely like a charm, and at such a tough edition of the Dakar Rally at that. That was the key to success. I want to thank everyone at Volkswagen for this. Even though I've now ended up winning precisely the ‘Dakar' that was not staged in Africa, which is home to me: It was definitely a genuine Dakar Rally, and the toughest edition I've ever contested.”

#305 – Dirk von Zitzewitz (D), co-driver
"I'm filled with incredible joy and relief. Up to the very end there was enormous pressure on us, and I only believed in our success after we'd completed the last special stage. I've experienced disappointments in motorsport only too often. This result with Volkswagen is simply fantastic! After completing the incredibly tough twelfth leg, I had a feeling that we could make it. If not now, when should we? And it worked out. It's the biggest exploit in my career on both two and four wheels – it's simply a dream.”

#308 – Mark Miller (USA), 6th place leg / 2nd place overall
"That's a great result for Volkswagen after a difficult rally. It's nice to have contributed to the brand's one-two victory. This rally certainly compares well with the editions in Africa – it was extremely tough. I perceived the special stage from Fiambalá to Rioja as being the most difficult one I've ever contested. That was an edition of the rally I'll definitely never forget. The Volkswagen team and the Volkswagen Race Touareg never let us down on this long drive.”

#308 – Ralph Pitchford (ZA), co-driver
"Congratulations to Volkswagen on this fantastic result – a wonderful rally, which was a lot of fun and very, very demanding for the drivers and co-drivers. This rally will be unforgettable not least because it ended with the best result for Mark and me. The car was outstanding and we took it to the finish in one piece.”

Thai's Mana Pornsiricherd on watching

Mitsubishi Thailand-backed Mana Pornsiricherd (Thailand) and co-driver Thierry Lacambre (France) eventually finished the final stage in 17th place, but time penalties earlier in the event pushed the Mitsubishi Thailand-backed driver down to 73rd overall.

Stage 14 : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	1:35:43	:
2	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	1:35:45	+0:02
3	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	1:36:00	+0:17
4	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	1:36:21	+0:38
5	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	1:36:33	+0:50
6	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	1:42:22	+6:39
7	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	1:44:45	+9:02
8	Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN	D D	HONDA BUGGY	T1.3	1:44:57	+9:14
9	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	1:45:14	+9:31
10	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	1:45:16	+9:33
11	Thierry MAGNALDI Guy LENEVEU	F F	SMG PORSCHE BUGGY	T1.3	1:45:23	+9:40
12	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	1:46:25	+10:42
13	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	1:50:17	+14:34
14	Jernis AZIS Ainas PRINCIS	LVA LVA	OSC OSCAR 03	T1.1	1:50:23	+14:40
15	Pascal THOMASSE Pascal LARROQUE	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	1:51:00	+15:17
16	Chris LEYDA Alister MCRAE	NL GB	MCRAE ENDURO	T3	1:51:28	+15:45
17	Mana PORNSIRICHERD Thierry LACAMBRE	THA F	MITSUBISHI PAJERO SPORT	T1.2	1:51:29	+15:46
18	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	1:53:04	+17:21
19	Bernard ERRANDONEA Jean-Pierre GARCIN	F F	SMG V8 BUGGY	T1.3	1:53:59	+18:16
20	Yaroslav SOLOVIEV Konstantin ZHILTSOV	RUS RUS	SMG V8 BUGGY	T1.3	1:54:09	+18:26

Overall : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	48:10:57	:
2	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	48:19:56	+8:59
3	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	49:57:12	+1:46:15
4	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	54:15:31	+6:04:34
5	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	54:48:46	+6:37:49
6	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	56:54:26	+8:43:29
7	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	59:14:05	+11:03:08
8	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	61:26:10	+13:15:13
9	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	63:00:46	+14:49:49
10	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	65:38:43	+17:27:46
11	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	66:43:03	+18:32:06
12	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	66:49:48	+18:38:51
13	Eric VIGOUROUX Alexandre WINOCQ	F F	HUMMER H3	OP1	66:56:34	+18:45:37
14	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	69:09:31	+20:58:34
15	Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN	D D	HONDA BUGGY	T1.3	69:49:52	+21:38:55
16	Xavier FOJ Joan PUJOLAR	E E	TOYOTA LAND CRUISER	T2.2	70:23:40	+22:12:43
17	Isabelle PATISSIER Theirry DELLI-ZOTTI	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	72:56:05	+24:45:08
18	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	73:00:16	+24:49:19
19	Ronan CHABOT Gilles PILLOT	F F	TOYOTA LAND CRUISER	T2.2	73:09:45	+24:58:48
20	Thierry MAGNALDI Guy LENEVEU	F F	SMG PORSCHE BUGGY	T1.3	75:25:24	+27:14:27