Volkswagen consolidates lead with de Villiers and Miller

Overall Leader : Giniel DE VILLIERS/Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ - VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG

Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Joan ’Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain) gave the new turbo diesel-engined ’Racing Lancer’ its first Dakar stage victory on the shortened 13th special stage between La Rioja and Cordoba on Friday afternoon.

JANUARY 16, 2009

Stage 13
LA RIOJA (Argentina) to CORDOBA (Argentina)
Road section: 364km - SS13: 221km - Road section: 47km
Total Distance: 632km

In the morning at the start in La Rioja, there were still 447 km to cover on the last two days of the 2009 Dakar route. In the bike race, the gap between the first man in the general standings, Coma and his closest contender Despres was 1h29’, or a little more than 13" to gain back per km for the Frenchman over the leader. Needless to say that this is almost mission impossible for the title holder who must have in mind the ordeal of this same adversary two years ago in the penultimate stage of the rally. The Catalan had hit a tree, losing therefore all chances of winning his second Dakar.

There was certainly more to loose than to win in today’s special stage for all three Race Touareg still in the race! This might be the one thing that led the Volkswagen drivers to choosing a full proof strategy. This is why after only 4km into the stage, Giniel De Villiers and Mark Miller stopped, let Robby Gordon pass and endorse the responsibility of opening the road and waited for their team-mate Dieter Depping. Once they were all together, the blue convoy starting driving again behind Gordon without even trying to chase him. No one knows if this tactic by VW changed of influenced Gordon’s driving but the Hummer was forced to stop for about 20 minutes at km 30.

The events in the beginning of the stage ousted some drivers out of today’s special stage to give way to those driver seeking revenge. First in line were two WRC specialists: Guerlain Chicherit and Krisztof Holowczyc who stood out with best intermediary clocks at km 64 and 133... then came Joan "Nani" Roma, much more on his terrain than yesterday, when he was at the bivouac with a dead engine in the middle of the night. After a night of repairs both for the car and its driver, Roma showed art and talent and surpassed the world champion of extreme ski and the Member of the European Parliament on WRC-type winding roads. At the end of the 220-km special stage, the last survivor of the Mistubishi armada brought his brand new Lancer to stage victory with a 7’18’’ lead over Holowczyc, and a 7’27’’ over Chicherit.

Thai's Mana Pornsiricherd on watching

Mitsubishi Thailand-backed Mana Pornsiricherd (Thailand) and co-driver Thierry Lacambre (France) incurred road penalties into La Rioja and were classified in 78th place in their Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, with Stephan Schott (Germany) and Alexey Berkut (Russia) running just behind them in the overall standings in their Mitsubishis Pajero / Montero Evolution.

Pornsiricherd eventually reached the finish of the shortened 13th stage in 18th place and held an unofficial 71st position at the end of the penultimate leg.

Stage 13 : Classification

Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Nat	Vehicle	Cat	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	2:33:48	:
2	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	2:41:06	+7:18
3	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	2:41:15	+7:27
4	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:43:48	+10:00
5	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	2:44:21	+10:33
6	Bob GORDON Willaim HIGMAN	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	2:47:41	+13:53
7	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:48:01	+14:13
8	Giniel DE VILLIERS Dirk VON ZITZEWITZ	AFS D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	2:48:16	+14:28
9	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	2:51:06	+17:18
10	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	2:53:11	+19:23
11	Thierry MAGNALDI Guy LENEVEU	F F	SMG PORSCHE BUGGY	T1.3	2:54:45	+20:57
12	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	2:54:56	+21:08
13	Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN	D D	HONDA BUGGY	T1.3	2:55:29	+21:41
14	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	2:56:17	+22:29
15	Jean DE AZEVEDO Youssef HADDAD	BRA BRA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO	T1.1	2:56:19	+22:31
16	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	2:56:37	+22:49
17	Chris LEYDA Alister MCRAE	NL GB	MCRAE ENDURO	T3	2:57:16	+23:28
18	Mana PORNSIRICHERD Thierry LACAMBRE	THA F	MITSUBISHI PAJERO SPORT	T1.2	2:58:03	+24:15
19	Pascal THOMASSE Pascal LARROQUE	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	2:58:53	+25:05
20	Jernis AZIS Ainas PRINCIS	LVA LVA	OSC OSCAR 03	T1.1	2:59:23	+25:35

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	46:35:14	:
2	Mark MILLER Ralph PITCHFORD	USA AFS	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	46:37:34	+2:20
3	Robby GORDON Andy GRIDER	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	48:02:27	+1:27:13
4	Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN Quin EVANS	N GB	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	52:30:15	+5:55:01
5	Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC Jean-Marc FORTIN	POL B	NISSAN NAVARA	T1.1	53:12:46	+6:37:32
6	Dieter DEPPING Timo GOTTSCHALK	D D	VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG	T1.2	55:04:09	+8:28:55
7	Miroslav ZAPLETAL Tomas OUREDNICEK	CZ CZ	MITSUBISHI L200	T1.1	57:27:40	+10:52:26
8	Leonid NOVITSKIY Oleg TYUPENKIN	RUS RUS	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	59:50:25	+13:15:11
9	Guerlain CHICHERIT Matthieu BAUMEL	F F	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	61:24:13	+14:48:59
10	Joan ROMA Lucas CRUZ	E E	MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER	T1.2	64:02:22	+17:27:08
11	Patrick SIREY JOL Paul VIDAL	F F	BOWLER WILDCAT	T1.1	64:49:41	+18:14:27
12	Bob GORDON Willaim HIGMAN	USA USA	HUMMER H3	OP1	64:54:40	+18:19:26
13	Bruce GARLAND Hiroaki SUZUKI	AUS AUS	ISUZU D-MAX	T1.2	64:57:49	+18:22:35
14	Nicolas GIBON Akira MIURA	F J	TOYOTA VDJ 200	T2.2	67:16:27	+20:41:13
15	Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN	D D	HONDA BUGGY	T1.3	68:04:55	+21:29:41
16	Xavier FOJ Joan PUJOLAR	E E	TOYOTA LAND CRUISER	T2.2	68:21:09	+21:45:55
17	Ronan CHABOT Gilles PILLOT	F F	TOYOTA LAND CRUISER	T2.2	70:48:53	+24:13:39
18	Isabelle PATISSIER Theirry DELLI-ZOTTI	F F	BUGGY	T1.3	70:55:35	+24:20:21
19	Rene KUIPERS Filipe PALMEIRO	NL P	BMW X3 CC	T1.2	71:15:31	+24:40:17
20	Jean DE AZEVEDO Youssef HADDAD	BRA BRA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO	T1.1	73:31:21	+26:56:07