Dakar Rally, Stage 3, 5 January 2009
Volkswagen continues to hold its ground after the third stage of the Dakar Rally, with Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) remaining at the top of the leader board.
The Spanish-French duo in a Race Touareg was able to increase the lead it established yesterday by more than a minute to 3.40 minutes on the 694-kilometre leg from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci in Argentina. The second fastest time behind the stage winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q) in an X-raid BMW was enough for Sainz to maintain his lead. Continue reading ‘Dakar 2009: Volkswagen defends its lead with Carlos Sainz’
Dakar Rally, Stage 2, 4 January 2009
Volkswagen assumed first and second positions overall with Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) after they mastered the challenging conditions on the Dakar Rally’s second stage.
Sainz took victory in the Volkswagen Race Touareg on the dusty stage between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn in Argentina. The Spanish-French duo staged a thrilling fight for victory on the day with the Mitsubishi pair of Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F/F) and won by 1:14 minutes. Continue reading ‘Dakar 2009: Volkswagen first and second overall after stage two’
We just posted a gallery from the Dakar Rally. We will be updating this over the days. Right click to save! Enjoy!
Dakar 2009: Volkswagen Motorsport gallery
Good morning. We had a great time yesterday and today is starting off just the same. The first practice session was from 9am to 10:45am. Again, we saw the #7 Penske Porsche in the Top 5.
The #7 Penske Racing / Porsche Riley 5th in Practice.
© 2009 Corey Beaman | oneighturbo.comPractice 4 - 01/04/09
- 1 - 55 - LevelFive Motorsports / BMW Riley - 1:41.884 - 125.790
- 2 - 76 - Krohn Racing / Ford Lola - 1:41.967 - 125.687
- 3 - 60 - Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley - 1:42.051 - 125.584
- 4 - 99 - GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing / Pontiac Riley - 1:42.230 - 125.364
- 5 - 7 - Penske Racing / Porsche Riley - 1:42.306 - 125.271
Here is the list of the first days results in the Roloex Series. Overall it was a great day. As the day progressed, the weather held up nicely as clouds moved in and temps dropped. The Porsche efforts faired well with one in the Top 5 of the 3 sessions.
The #58 Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley set the fastest time in the night session.
© 2009 Corey Beaman | oneighturbo.com
- Pos - No. - Class - PIC - Team/Car - Best Lap Time - Best Speed
Practice 1 - 01/03/09
- 1 - 6 - DP - 1 - Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley - 1:41.760 - 125.943
- 2 - 7 - DP - 2 - Penske Racing / Porsche Riley - 1:42.447 - 125.098
- 3 - 10 - DP - 4 - SunTrust Racing / Ford Dallara - 1:42.530 - 124.997
- 4 - 6 - DP - 5 - Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley - 1:42.750 - 124.729
- 5 - 2 - DP - 6 - Childress-Howard Motorsports / Pontiac Crawford - 1:42.897 - 124.551
Practice 2 - 01/03/09
- 1 - 6 - DP - 1 - Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley - 1:41.760 - 125.943
- 2 - 7 - DP - 2 - Penske Racing / Porsche Riley - 1:42.289 - 125.292
- 3 - 10 - DP - 3 - SunTrust Racing / Ford Dallara - 1:42.331 - 125.240
- 4 - 01 - DP - 4 - Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley - 1:42.485 - 125.052
- 5 - 2 - DP - 5 - Childress-Howard Motorsports / Pontiac Crawford - 1:42.671 - 124.825
Practice 3 (Night) - 01/03/09
- 1 - 58 - DP - 2 - Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley - 1:42.217 - 125.380
- 2 - 6 - DP - 3 - Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley - 1:42.485 - 125.052
- 3 - 76 - DP - 4 - Jonsson / Turner / Zonta - Krohn Racing / Ford Lola - 1:42.507 - 125.025
- 4 - 55 - DP - 5 - LevelFive Motorsports / BMW Riley - 1:42.639 - 124.864
- 5 - 01 - DP - 6 - Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley - 1:42.647 - 124.855
Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller finished second, third and fourth respectively in todays Special Stage. Competitors started the 2009 Dakar rally from the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires and finished the day in Santa Rosa de la Pampa. Even though there is still an extremely long road ahead, it is great that Volkswagen Motorsports is starting off the rally strong. Stage two starts from Santa Rosa de la Pampa and ends in Puerto Madryn. There is no connection before the Special Stage so competitors will start from the bivouac. After the Special Stage however, there will be a 600 km Liaison (the longest liaison of the race) from the end of the Special Stage to the Bivouac in Puerto Madryn.
Dakar Rally, Stage 1, 3 January 2009
Good opening for Volkswagen in the Dakar Rally: The Race Touaregs fill positions second to fourth after the first stage.
On the opening day of the legendary cross country rally’s debut in South America, Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) finished second behind Nasser Al-Attiyah/Tina Thörner (Q/S) in a BMW. Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) follow in third place in another Volkswagen only 23 seconds behind Sainz. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) completed Volkswagen’s good team performance with fourth position on the stage from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa in Argentina. Continue reading ‘Volkswagen fill second to fourth positions after good start’
Mustangs topped the charts in todays Koni Challenge Practice occupying the top six spots in practice this afternoon. The highest ranked Porsche was the TRG #40 car, posting the ninth fastest time.
Criag Stanton in the BGB Motorsports Porsche 997
What stood out most about today’s test was car count. In 2008 there were 96 cars registered for this test, in 2009 there are only 36 cars registered. However several of the teams which are not in attendance will be competing in the Koni Challenge race at Daytona later in the month.
We finally made it to Daytona yesterday, had tons of connections issues and now we are at the Media Complex at Daytona with wireless! With that said, we have the first update in the 2009 Dakar Rally. It is very early but Carlos Sainz and Michel Perin lead at 48km (30m miles) into it. The teams of Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz follow in 3rd, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford in 4th and Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk in 6th.
Leg 01
Saturday, 03 January 2009
Buenos Aires (Argentina)?–?Santa Rosa (Argentina)
Liaison 196 km
Special stage 371 km
Liaison 166 km
Total 733 km
The scenery
Both Buenos Aires and the journey to the first stage destination of Santa Rosa can boast some superlatives. The capital of Argentina is all about urbanity on a grand scale, for example with the “Avenida 9 de Julio”, the widest arterial road in the world with eight lanes in each direction, while the legendary pampas outside of the city are characterised by fields of sunflowers, soya beans, cattle pastures and fruit plantations.
The day’s route
The first stage of the 2009 “Dakar” is also one of the longest in the history of the race at 733 kilometres, 371 of which are a special stage. With some very fast stretches – the fastest in the entire race – it will also require the utmost of concentration. Day one is quite a warm-up for the weeks to come.
The destination: Santa Rosa de la Pampa
Location 36° 37’ south, 64° 17’ west
Altitude 176 m above sea level
Population 94,758 (2001)
Postal code L6300
Dialling code +54 2954
Province La Pampa
Departement Capital
Time zone UTC -3 hours
