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
On the ninth leg Volkswagen celebrated its seventh stage victory at the 2009 Dakar Rally, continuing to run in front overall with stage winners Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), ahead of two further Race Touareg vehicles. On the demanding leg from La Serena to Copiapó in Chile, for a long time it looked like Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the Race Touareg would be the stage winners but a tyre change just before the finish cost them about five minutes. Nevertheless, the American/South African duo managed to make up one position in the overall standings. Miller/Pitchford Read More→
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→
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.
MENDOZA (Argentina): X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner set the fastest time on the shortened 178km special stage from San Rafaël to Mendoza, but they missed a series of hidden way-points through the sand dunes early in the stage and the unfortunate penalty was exclusion from the rally. Al-Attiyah had comfortably been the fastest driver on the event this year and had extended his overall rally lead to 7m 32s before the official penalty was awarded. It was a bitterly disappointing end to a superb week in control of the event for the Trebur-based X-raid team. “The problem started last night when we found a lot of grass in the radiator and the car was getting very hot,” reflected a disappointed team director Sven Quandt. “We did as much work on the car as we could last night, but we could not change everything. “This morning at the start of the sand dunes, the temperature began to climb immediately and Nasser had to decide whether to go in the sand or drive around. He decided to go around and, in so doing, he did not pass all the way-points. That meant that he was automatically vulnerable to a time penalty. But he missed too many way-points and the penalty in the rally regulations is exclusion from the race.” Today’s special stage was originally shortened from 394km to 232km and then to 178km because of the risk of standing water caused by recent rainfall. Event officials sent a recce car into the stage on Wednesday to monitor a river crossing which was already 80cm high and the decision was taken to skip the section on safety grounds, hence the stage distance being reduced still further. X-raid’s mechanics had worked into the small hours of the morning to give Al-Attiyah’s car a thorough check over after the punishing section through the dunes. The radiator was replaced and all aspects of the cooling system were given a detailed examination before the restart.
Local hero Orlando Terranova and French co-driver Alain Guehennec had damaged their radiator in a hole on the stage into San Rafael, before experiencing cooling problems. The car was repaired overnight, but the Mendoza driver struggled to the 24th fastest time through the dunes to PC1. He eventually reached the finish in 20th and was greeted in his home town of Mendoza by the news that he had climbed back into the top 10.
Dutchman René Kuipers and Portuguese co-driver Filipe Palmeiro were 22nd through the first passage control and completed the section in a highly-respectable 21st on the driver’s first full Dakar. The result was sufficient to propel Kuipers into 11th overall and he moved up to 10th when Al-Attiyah was excluded. Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Matthieu Baumel began the stage in 14th position on the road, but struck a tree in the special and damaged the car’s radiator. They were forced to wait for X-raid rapid T4 assistance truck before they could continue and eventually dropped three hours to the leaders and finished the stage in 49thposition. X-raid Russia’s Leonid Novitskiy and Oleg Tyupenkin restarted on Thursday morning from 20th in the overall classification after getting stuck for a time on the run into San Rafael. They became bogged down in a deep mud hole 11km into the special this morning at the same point as Luc Alphand was stuck and were badly delayed. Tomorrow (Friday) marks the crossing into Chile and the most varied of the days in this year’s Dakar Rally timetable. Teams leave Mendoza and head into an 80km liaison section, before embarking upon a punishing 419km special stage over twisty mountain tracks in the Andes. The stage starts near Nueva Californi and winds its way in a north-westerly direction towards the first and second passage controls, before heading south to PC3 and on to a finish at the tourist town of Uspallata in the Andes foothills. Service vehicles, rally cars and support trucks will cross the border on a sealed surface road at a height of 3,275 metres above sea level between Punta de Vacas and Puenta del Inca, before making the steep descent on to the coastal plain into Chile. The towering peak of Aconcagua, rising to 6959 metres, will be a spectacular sight to the right and is the highest peak in the western hemisphere. The entire Dakar caravan will arrive at the overnight halt in Valparaiso on Chile’s Pacific Coast after a further 317km liaison section. The important Chilean port will also host the event’s traditional rest day.
Overall positions on leg 6 (unofficial @ 17.50hrs): 1. *Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 2h 07m 26s 2. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 2h 12m 33s 3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 2h 12m 53s 4. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 2h 16m 03s 5. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 2h 20m 40s 6. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 2h 21m 46s * subject to time penalties being awarded
Other X-raid crews
20. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 3h 18m 15s 21. René Kuipers (NL)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 3h 18m 54s 49. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Matthieu Baumel (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 5h 02m 18s TBA. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) TBA Overall positions after leg 6: 1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg(T1.2) 20h 59m 34s 2. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 21h 07m 13s 3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 21h 17m 25s 4. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 21h 30m 52s 5. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret Mitsubishi Racing Lancer(T1.2) 21h 34m 01s 6. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 22h 11m 21s
7. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 23h 32m 49s
8. Ivar Erik Tollefsen (N)/Quin Evans (GB) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 23h 45m 31s 9. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 23h 50m 09s 10. René Kuipers (NL)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 25h 19m 13s
Overall positions on leg 4 (unofficial @ 14.00hrs):
* 1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 3h 42m 57s
* 2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 3h 43m 03s
* 3. Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 3h 45m 21s
* 4. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 3h 47m 17s
* 5. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer(T1.2) 3h 48m 35s
* 6. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg(T1.2) 3h 48m 45s
* 7. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 3h 49m 46s
* 8. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret Mitsubishi Racing Lancer(T1.2) 3h 49m 51s
* 9. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Matthieu Baumel (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 3h 53m 28s
* 10. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 3h 55m 10s
Other X-raid crews
* 13. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 4h 00m 42s
* 14. Peter van Merksteijn (NL)/Eddy Chevallier (B) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 4h 01m 19s
Overall positions after leg 4:
* 1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 12h 47m 45s
* 2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 12h 51m 31s
* 3. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg(T1.2) 12h 59m 18s
* 4. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret Mitsubishi Racing Lancer(T1.2) 13h 03m 26s
* 5. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) 13h 07m45s
* 6. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 13h 07m 50s
* 7. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 13h 12m 15s
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.
Team news from the new dimensions x-raid team with a strong showing the first few days into the Dakar 2009 competition.
“I must say I am quite surprised to be in this position,” said a delighted team director Sven Quandt. “I know that Nasser is very good, the car is excellent and he had a good starting position this morning. But we are showing again that we are a serious threat to win this race.” Local hero Orlando Terranova and Frenchman Alain Guehennec began the stage ahead of Al-Attiyah and this enabled the Qatari to pass if necessary. Terranova drove a sensible stage to claim seventh position, although he lost a couple of minutes near the end of the special. “I am very happy to be in this position after three days,” said Terranova. Read More→
With some controlled driving, the Spanish-French duo was able to increase the lead it established yesterday in its Race Touareg by more than a minute to 3.40 minutes on the 694-kilometre leg westwards from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci in Argentina. The second fastest time behind the day’s winners Nasser Al-Attiyah/Tina Thörner in a BMW X-raid was enough for Sainz to maintain his lead. The third leg presented the participants with speedy stretches and with winding – and therefore also demanding – sections. With some rocky ground to cover, they had to reduce the risk of tyre blowouts in order not to forfeit valuable time.
The third best time of the leg was likewise secured by Volkswagen, with Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk coming in 1.05 minutes behind their teammates. Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz achieved fourth position in another Race Touareg on the second longest special stage of the rally, measuring 551 kilometres. The pair fell one place in the overall rankings, to third place. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford were ranked sixth in leg 3, meaning that all four Race Touareg were in the top six. Overall, Miller/Pitchford have now moved up one position, to sixth place.
X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team rebounded from Sunday’s small setback to again set the fastest time in the third, albeit shortened, 550km varied gravel stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally across Patagonia between Puerto Madryn and Ingeniero Jacobacci on Monday. Day one leaders, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Tina Thörner, started the stage in ninth position on the road in their BMW X3 CC and set the fastest time – their second in three days – to move up the leader board from fourth to second overall. Cooler and windier conditions greeted crews as they headed east across the vast and remote Patagonian scrublands at the start of the longest special stage of the event so far. But the changing conditions failed to prevent Al-Attiyah setting the early pace in the opening 40km, although Germany’s Dieter Depping, Spain’s Carlos Sainz and Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel were in close contention. The Qatari had openly admitted that he was disappointed to lose the overall lead on day two because of a navigational error and he maintained his composure and an excellent pace to hold the stage lead through 304km. He had a 2m 36s advantage over South African Giniel de Villiers, with Depping, Sainz, Peterhansel and Spaniard Joan ‘Nani’ Roma in hot pursuit. The stage had been shortened from 616km to 550km by event officials, but Al-Attiyah maintained his lead through PC2 at 496km, with Sainz moving up to second position, ahead of Depping, De Villiers, Peterhansel and Roma. Despite losing a little time towards the end of the section to overall leader Sainz, Al-Attiyah claimed a second stage win in three days. “We decided to push a little bit for the first 300km,” said Al-Attiyah. “We passed four cars and e caught ‘Nani’ (Roma) and then had a flat tyre. We stopped to change the wheel. There was one bike in front of us and I had to swerve off the track and then we hit a rock and had the puncture. But everything else is okay. I have no problem starting first tomorrow.”
Puro Off-Road is accredited news user of VW and X-Raid
