Ten out of ten possible stage wins, four lead changes and a captivating duel: Volkswagen decided the Rallye Dos Sertões in Brazil in their favor with a one-two win and thus took the first successful step in the title defense the brand targets at the Dakar Rally in January 2010. The all-Spanish factory duo in the Race Touareg, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz Senra, secured third place on the final stage of the rally regarded as the toughest and longest cross-country after the legendary “Dakar” and thus clinched overall victory. On the tenth and last special stage between Caicó and Natal, which covered 85 kilometers of narrow gravel tracks and sandy sections, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk took the stage win and finished as the overall runners-up, just 1m 09s behind Sainz and Cruz Senra. The team-internal duel for stage victories ended in a score of 6:4 for the newly formed duo Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk. The Brazilian pairing Maurício Neves/Eduardo Bampi in another 280-hp diesel prototype from Wolfsburg finished the rally in sixth place overall.

Carlos Sainz vs. Nasser Al-Attiyah: nail-biting duel for the top position Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz Senra and Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk delivered a nail biting duel for victory to the countless cheering spectators of the Rallye dos Sertões, who enthusiastically welcomed the “Blue Frogs” – as the “Dakar” winning cars are affectionately nicknamed by the Brazilian fans due to their uncompromising off-road-capable shape – every day in the towns where the stages finished. In the well-balanced fight between the two new pairings who have been put together for the next Dakar Rally the largest gap during the rally was just a little more than ten minutes, and on the eighth day of the rally a mere three seconds. The Volkswagen duos took turns leading the event a total of four times.

Ideal “Dakar” preparation: toughest cross-country rally after the off-road classic The track profile of the 17th edition of the Rallye dos Sertões made maximum demands on
man and machine on the 5,036-kilometer route from the start in Goiânia to the finish in Natal. Extremely narrow gravel trails along farm roads alternated with washed-out trial passages and sections with deep, soft sand. The rally featured very quick as well as slow special stages. For Volkswagen, it was an ideal test for the Dakar Rally in January 2010, which will again be held in Argentina and Chile. Unlike at the “Dakar”, there was no day of rest scheduled during the ten-day rally. Consequently, the “Sertões” was a serious test for the entire team, from the drivers and co-drivers to the mechanics, in terms of technology, logistics and endurance. The “Sertões” also included numerous water passages which posed additional challenges during the cross-country rally through Brazil. Besides the Rallye dos Sertões the Silk-Way-Rallye from 05 to 13 September – organized by “Dakar” organizer A.S.O. – through the Russian republic of Tatarstan as well as through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan is part of the preparation for the 2010 “Dakar”.

Final standings Rally Dos Sertes – Brazil after 10 stages:

• 1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz Senra (E/E), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 1h 06m 38.7s (3), 29h 16m 40.1s
• 2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 1h 03m 55.1s (1), + 1m 09. 4s
• 3 Jean Azevedo/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR), Mitsubishi L200, 1h 19m 37.0 (14), + 3h 53m 02.7
• 4 Roberto Reijers/Marcos Almeida (BR/BR), Ford Ranger, 1h 22m 11.2 (12), + 5h 35m 21.6
• 5 Felipe Bibas/Emerson Cavassi (BR/BR), Mitsubishi L200, 1h 16m 38.3 (9), + 5h 51m 53.2
• 6 Maurício Neves/Eduardo Bampi (BR/BR), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 1h 04m 24.6 (2), + 6h 00m 00.2
• 7 Luiz Facco/Silvio Deusdara (BR/BR), Mitsubishi L200, 1h 22m 43.3 (16), + 6h 21m 29.3
• 8 Richard Vaders/A. Spacassassi (BR/BR), Sherpa, 1h 14m 50.9 (7), + 7h 47m 26.1
• 9 Jarbas de Castro/W. von Schmidt (BR/BR), Sherpa 1h 17m 29.3 (11), + 7h 51m 19.6
• 10 Romeu Franciosi/Deco Muniz (BR/BR), Sherpa, 1h 14m 13.2 (6), + 9h 00m 00.8

Press release Volkswagen Motorsport – Puro Off Road is registered news user with Volkswagen Motorsport and Volkswagen of America

Related posts:

1. Volkswagen Rallye dos Sertoes leg five
2. Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz fighting for overall victory
3. Sainz with stage win to overall Dos Sertões lead
4. One-two-three victory for Volkswagen
5. Volkswagen continues leading the Dakar Rally

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This post was written by Memin