Archive for Race News Webcast
Press release Team x-raid: Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner noticeably eased their pace over the final leg of the 2009 Transiberico Rally between Beja and Estoril in Portugal, but did enough to clinch outright victory in the final round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The result also confirmed the FIA World Cup title for the Frenchman and his BMW X-raid team. It was the second successive FIA World Cup success for the Trebur-based X-raid team – Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah won the title in his BMW X3 CC in 2008 – and the third in total for Sven Quandt’s ever-improving team.
Chicherit inherited Read More→
La Paz, Baja Sur – Coyote 300 desert Race images are ready to be viewed at the gallery. We will post the next few hours several sets of images from today’s Coyote 300 race in Baja California Sur with the start in Centenario outside of La Paz. The Carballo Bros. and Memin, the desert penguin got all together about 2500 images as I can see now PLUS I also have 40 minutes of video footage. Our first stop was at Carambullo – for the people familiar with the area, roughly about a 15 minutes drive in the direction of Loreto, just past the military check point and then another 10 minutes to the left on a rancher’s property. Great to see those folks make a few pesos entry fee to let you go on their property. Read More→
21:39 – we’re working on it… we got about 600 photos and will just post about 200 for today from the Pueblo Magico 300 race in Southern Baja California from San Jose del Cabo to La Paz. Stay tuned for some great pics. Thanks to Rafa “The Man” Carballo. Give the man some kudos and visit his site via the link. If you need a excellent photographer in La Paz or BCS – who on top, is an ex-baja- and desert racer and knows where to go and what to look for – get in touch with him. We appreciate his effort and advice. Read More→
SCORE Press Release: Prominent Central California developer, general contractor and rookie desert racer Greg Nunley along with Randy Wilson, Ryan Penhall and Santos Perez all drew pole positions in their respective divisions during Saturday’s computerized drawing for starting positions in the upcoming 41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500. Round 3 of the five-race 2009 SCORE Desert Series, the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, will feature over 250 entries, competing in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs, will be held June 4-7 in Ensenada, Mexico. Read More→
The streets of San Rafael were lined again with thousands and thousands of fans waiting for the arrival of the Dakar Rally to their town. It was miles and miles of screaming fans cheering and yelling with excitement. The Bivouac is north of town and is situated in a large grass and dirt field. For the first time in rally we beat the Hummers to the bivouac. We have always arrived later in the evening due to the odd assistance and press roads that we are mandated to take. If we do not follow the route that is given, the team can be fined severely and time can be penalized on the over all time of the race vehicle. We have tracking devises on the Hummer H1’s that keep track of our movements. We also have very strict restrictions on speed limits on the open highways and especially on small villages.
Stage 5 started out great for Team Dakar USA when we got word that at Kilometer 31 Robby was leading the race. The special turned out to be a no holds bar match. The lead changed several times for the next 300 km. Robby suffered a broken wheel and that put him down for three minutes. They changed the tire but suddenly were stuck in the very soft terrain, the car just sunk in the sand. Robby was stuck for about 4 more minutes. They finally made it out and quickly gained their pace. Soon after the tire that was changed came loose from the rear spare mount and the inflation system cable got tangled in one of the engine belts. They stopped to install a new belt setting them back again. The Hummer easily lost 11 minutes in the stage, which could have been a win for the team. At one point of the race, Robby was down 11 minutes from the lead pace. He rallied back, 8 minutes behind, 5 minutes behind and finally ended up finishing 3rd with a time of 5 hours 51 minutes and 55 seconds. Only 4 minutes and 32 seconds behind the stage winner De Villiers. Robby now sits 7th overall and is 41 minutes and 48 seconds behind the Over all leader Al Attiyah. Eric Vigouroux finished 28th for the day and now sits in 31st over all.
NEUQUÉN (Argentina): X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team maintained the pressure on the leading Spaniard Carlos Sainz, by setting the second, seventh and ninth fastest times on a shorter, but nonetheless, demanding special stage between Ingeniero Jacobacci and Neuquén through a region renowned for its palaeontology in western Patagonia on Tuesday. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner were the first crew into the stage and held an advantage early on, before slipping behind eventual stage winner Sainz. The Spaniard only extended his overall lead by six seconds to 3m 46s after a spirited late surge by Al-Attiyah in his latest-specification Trebur-built BMW X3 CC. Al-Attiyah duly set the second fastest time to maintain second overall while team mates Orlando Terranova and Alain Guehennec were seventh quickest, although the Argentinean had been second fastest into the opening passage control, before losing time late on. Today’s relatively short special stage was shortened even further by 79km at the request of a local landowner, although it retained its tricky and varied nature. Fifty-six cars, bikes and trucks had retired from the race this morning, out of the original 531 starters. Dutchman Peter van Merksteijn and Belgian co-driver Eddy Chevallier set the 14th fastest time in their BMW X3 CC Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Matthieu Baumel had climbed to 93rd position at the start of the day’s stage and eventually claimed the ninth fastest time to continue their gradual assault on the middle reaches of the leader board.
X-raid Russia’s Leonid Novitskiy and co-driver Oleg Tyupenkin lost their place in the top 12 on the stage into Ingeniero Jacobacci on Monday afternoon. The Russian hit a rock and the impact damaged his BMW X3 CC’s front suspension. He eventually completed the stage in 120th position and slipped to 40th in the overall standings after losing over four hours making repairs.
The Russian was reseeded in 21st position for safety reasons, held 11th through PC1 and eventually finished the stage in 13th place. Tomorrow (Wednesday) the route continues its steady climb north from the harsh hinterlands of Patagonia into less hostile and more sandy terrain en route to San Rafaël close to the Argentinean foothills of the mighty Andes mountain range.
The day begins with a 173km liaison section through Barda del Medilo to the start of a 506km special stage, which has an opening passage control near Tres Chorros and a second checkpoint after a run through the mountaineous Sierra del Nevado. A short 84km liaison takes team to the overnight halt, which is a city on the Diamante River in the southern region of the Mendoza Province, 650 metres above sea level.
