Archive for Baja Show
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→
The new-look OiLibya Tunisia Rally is the longest cross-country event in the FIA international calendar – with the exception of the Dakar Rally – and features a super special stage and 10 selective sections in Tunisia and Libya. The second round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies has been expanded by the organising Neveu- Pelletier Organisation (NPO) and now features a total route of 4,297km.
There are 3,274 proposed competitive kilometres in the time schedule in Tunisia and Libya. After technical scrutineering and documentation at Gammarth La Marsa in Tunis on Tuesday, April 21st and Wednesday, April 22nd, Read More→
FIAMBALÁ (Argentina): There was no special stage competition for the Racing Team on day 11 of the 2009 Dakar Rally. Event officials had canceled the short final stage in Chile between Copiapó and Fiambalá and made the leg into a liaison section across the Andes mountains and back into Argentina for the surviving teams. Persistent fog had been forecast in the area around the bivouac in the Atacama desert and, with teams needing to cross the Andes after the special stage to reach Fiambalá in Argentina, this seemed the best option for the ASO to prevent delays and possible logistical problems. It meant that X-raid’s three surviving BMW X3 CCs, in the hands of René Kuipers, Leonid Novitskiy and Guerlain Chicherit, left the bivouac on a long road liaison. Instead of tackling a tricky stage in Chile, they headed directly for the frontier and followed the tracks that media and race officials had taken on a tiring bus transfer during the night. The liaison route began on a hard gravel track, as the remaining cars, bikes and trucks wound their way through the foothills and between the towering peaks of the Chilean Andes. The border crossing was carved through a mountain pass, where media and officials had experienced icy temperatures and stunning, clear skies the previous evening. Cars climbed through Trés Cruces and the track began to deteriorate as the route climbed to a peak of 4,748 meters above sea level in the stunning San Francisco Pass, which marked the frontier with Argentina. From there, the X-raid teams could benefit from a sealed asphalt surface through a huge flood plain and down into the valley of the Fiambalá River and the overnight halt without assistance. This had been scheduled to be a Marathon stage on the 2009 Dakar Rally. Only the race truck crew, team director Sven Quandt and X-raid Russia team manager Marco Pastorino were permitted to access the Fiambalá bivouac.
The remaining of the team and the service crews of all the other teams in the rally had two days to reach the next bivouac at La Rioja, on a liaison which ran for 790km from Copiapó and used its own slightly lower passing across the spine of the Andes.
Tomorrow (Thursday) marks the second section of the Marathon stage and crews will need to ensure that they repaired their cars at Fiambalá in readiness for the 253km special stage that will reunite them with their service trucks at La Rioja in the Gran Chaco region of north-west Argentina at the foot of the Velasco mountains. The stage starts a mere four kilometres from the overnight halt, but there will be a 261km liaison section to La Rioja before work can begin in earnest on the cars.
The stage heads back towards`the Andes for a pair of passage controls near Palo Blanco, before turning in an easterly direction and finishing at El Puesto. The final liaison passes Salado, Almogasta and Villa Mazan en route to La Rioja to the north of the Sierra de Velasco mountains at a height of 540 metres above sea level. The town is better known for its cattle farming and agriculture and was the birthplace of former Argentine President Isabel Martinez de Perón.
- 1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 38h 59m 02s
- 2. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 39h 26m 33s
- 3. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg(T1.2) 39h 40m 15s
- 4. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 40h 12m 15s
- 5. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 40h 33m 40s
- 6. Ivar Erik Tollefsen (N)/Quin Evans (GB) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 44h 13m 20s
- 7. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 40h 50m 58s
- 8. René Kuipers (NL)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 47h 00m 53s
- 9. Dieter Depping (D)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 47h 31m 36s
Press release Team x-raid news
SAN RAFAËL(Argentina): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Tina Thörner, representing X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team, set the fourth fastest time on the most difficult special stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally so far and regained the overall lead on Wednesday. The punishing fifth 506km timed section linked the overnight halts of Neuquén and San Rafaël in Argentina and Al-Attiyah overcame the handicap of starting the stage in second position to further establish his credentials as a serious challenger for the overall victory in his BMW X3 CC. Qatari Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Thörner started the stage behind Spaniard Carlos Sainz Read More→
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.
