CLEAN SWEEP AND SUCCESSFUL 'DAKAR' TITLE DEFENCE FOR VW
2010-01-17 19:49:43 Author: admin Source:
At the concluding fourteenth stage of the Dakar Rally 2010 between Santa Rosa to Buenos Aires, Volkswagen has affirmed themselves as repeat Dakar Rally Champions following Nasser Al Atiiyah (above) and Carlos Sainz one-two finish at the Argentine capital. Only 57 cars took to the start line of the final 206km special stage and event officials likened the special to a high-speed sprint across the piste to a finish at the village of San Carlos de Bolivar.
The situation was undecided at the start due to Sainz (above) and Al Attiyah minimal gap in the overall standings after the thirteenth stage. Both leaders and teammates weren't bound by any race orders. On a very fast track, where passing only happens under absolute necessity, Al Attiyah started the stage by regaining 2’48’’ over Sainz to oust him off the top step of the podium.
To make the game even more fascinating, the results of yesterday’s special stage had put the two BMW of Stephane Peterhansel (above left) and Guerlain Chicherit (above right) right in the way of both VW contenders for the last stage victory.
However, given the determination and grit by the BMW drivers, the obvious scenario was that the Race Touaregs were still a level beyond any competitors at the Dakar. At the start, Al Attiyah gained 18’’ at CP1 (121 km), while Sainz, in second, was already on his way to the overall victory with a virtual advantage of 2’30’'. The Spaniard who had been in the lead of the raid since stage 5 did hang on to the shrinking time difference. At the finish line, Al Attiyah took the win by a margin of less than one minute to hard-charging drivers Sainz and Chicherit in second and third respectively.
Aside from defending the title for Volkswagen, Sainz has finally triumphed for the first time at the World's toughest off-road Rally event after missing out in 2007 and 2009 since his debut four years ago with Volkswagen. On route to the title, he chalked up only 2'12" advantage to second place Al Attiyah and a further 32'51" to third place Mark Miller. History will also recall that the two-times WRC champion has won the Dakar with the smallest time difference and a distance of only 3.73 km. In all, the 2010 Dakar Rally Champion covered 4,806 km of special stages and at an average speed of 101.8 km/h.
VW's dominance at the 2010 edition showed at least one Race Touareg in the top-three of each stage until the finishing stage, and 27 of a possible 42 top-three positions on the 14 stages.
A jubilant Sainz (seen above w/ 2nd place finisher and team mate Al Attiyah) quoted, "I have fulfilled a dream by winning the ‘Dakar’. An enormous weight has fallen from my shoulders particularly as the fight for victory was extremely hard both physically and enormously exhausting mentally. I’m incredibly happy to have achieved this goal after having been so close to victory on several occasions."
"Everything ran perfectly for me: My co-driver Lucas Cruz did an excellent job, from the technical side the Race Touareg ran like clockwork and the entire Volkswagen squad worked tirelessly for the win,” he added.
Volkswagen therefore remains the only manufacturer to have won the car category of the Dakar Rally with diesel power, winning seven of 14 possible stage victories and eleven days in the lead.
Further down the standings order, X Raid BMW Team have every reasons to be proud of their campaign in 2010 as drivers Peterhansel and Chicherit consolidated fourth and fifth overall.
Peterhansel is tied with Al Attiyah on four stage wins a piece during the course of the 14-day rally. The outcome also meant that the X Raid Team finished the Dakar with six stage wins compared to seven for rivals Volkswagen (addtional two for Sainz, one for Miller) and one for American Robbie Gordon in a Hummer (above).
Peterhansel explained, "“It was a hard and very enjoyable Dakar for me, Jean-Paul and the team. I led the way at the start and pushed a little, but not too hard, because I knew that Nasser (Al-Attiyah) was behind. Except for the problems on the fifth day, it has been a great success for us. We claimed four stage wins. That one problem cost us at least a podium and maybe something even better. Now we can go away and look ahead to the next time with optimism.”
Chicherit, the reigning World Cross-Country champion, was a little disappointed with fifth, but pleased with the progress he had made at the 2010 Dakar. “I suppose we came here looking for a little more than fourth and fifth, but it was still a very good result for us. I had the big loss of time early on and it was a case of fighting back after that. There are many positives we can take away from the last two weeks and we need to make sure that we learn from the experience.”
Peterhansel and Chicherit started the special in first and third places on the road, with Al-Attiyah sandwiched between them in second position and overall leader Sainz in fourth. Not only was the outcome of the event at stake over the closing kilometres, but the X-raid duo also wanted to end the campaign with a seventh stage win.
Chicherit and Peterhansel trailed Al-Attiyah and Sainz by a handful of seconds through the 66km and 121km points, as the Qatari and the Spaniard battled hard for overall victory. There was no change through 177km either, as Chicherit trailed the Qatari by 31 seconds with Peterhansel a further 22s adrift There were no dramas over the closing kilometres and the X-raid duo recorded the third and fourth fastest times behind Al Attiyah and Sainz in their powerful Race Touaregs.
Today marks the ceremonial finish at La Rural convention centre in Buenos Aires. An estimated 700,000 people flocked to the streets of the Argentine capital last season to welcome the finishers – such is the popularity of the event in South America.
Overall and Final standings
1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz 47h 10m 00s
2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk + 2m 12s
3 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford + 32m 51s
4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret + 2h 17m 21s
5 Guerlain Chicherit/Tina Thörner + 4h 02m 49s
6 Carlos Sousa/Matthieu Baumel + 4h 31m 45s
7 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz + 5h 10m 19s
8 Robby Gordon/Andy Grider + 6h 02m 24s
9 Orlando Terranova/Pascal Maimon + 6h 04m 47s
10 Guilherme Spinelli/Filipe Palmeiro + 6h 13m 41s
