Dakar Series Portugal

[derco]

Hi to all.

The most recent news about this event have been today in some newspapers. Acording to the publications the event will start in 9 of September, and will end in 13, or maybee 14 of September.

The stages will be runned in the South of the Portugal, 1st in Castelo Branco, the 2nd will be the stage planed for this year's Dakar, stage 3 i don't know where it will be but people are talking in Alentejo, and 4 the stage near Portimao that was planed to be stage 2 of Dakar 2008.

Please note this is unofficial news, and the definitive annoucemente will take place only next week.

Specialy for the guys from that side of the lake... who will come?!...

More news as soon i get them.

Regards.

[derco]

The next event in the recent "Dakar Series" competition will be the PAX Rallye of Portugal, disputed from 9 to 14 of september in the South of Portugal.

The schedule will be :
9/9 - Verifications
10/9 - 1st Stage: Lisboa-Castelo Branco
11/9 - 2nd Stage: Castelo Branco-Benavente
12/9 - 3rd Stage: Benavente-Alcochete
13/9 - 4th Stage: Alcochete-Portimão
14/ - 5th Stage: Portimão-Portimão

1 stage... disputed in the mountains near Castelo branco, with 220km's of race
2 stage, probably someting similar to the Transibérico 2008 SS6 and SS7, disputed in the region of Ribatejo and Alto Alentejo.
3 stage... this is the stage planned to be the stage 1 of Dakar 2008, disputed in a militar camp, near Coruche and Benavente.
4 stage... unknown... i think they will use stage 1 of dakar 2006 (or even stage 1 of dakar 2007)
stage 5 ... this is the stage planed to be stage 2 of Dakar 2008 (and was stage 2 of dakar 2007)

At this moment the organization allready have agreement with the main Dakar teams to race in this event (VW, Mitsubishi and X-Raid BMW)

Regards

[RGFan]

It sure would be nice if BJ and the team could do this race, just to get some more run time in the H3, RG will not be able to get out of his day job unfortunately....A good warm up for South America though

[derco]

Hi.

I would love to see them again on race, but i think they will not come. The stages are not good for the hummer, specialy stage 1, 2 and 5, and probably they will not get them selfs in one race that is not suited for the Hummer.

Regards

[derco]

Dakar Series: Three Volkswagen Race Touareg to start in Portugal

By fielding three Race Touareg vehicles, Volkswagen is tackling another new challenge in cross-country rally racing while preparing for the 2009 Dakar Rally: The second rally of the Dakar series, which will lead through Portugal from 09 to 14 September, will be contested by the factory duos of Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (RSA/D) and Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk (D/D) with the diesel prototype that has already been victorious twice in 2008. The rally from Lisbon to Portimão will feature approximately 1,000 timed kilometres on five competition days. In April 2008, the Volkswagen Duo Sainz/Périn had won the first rally of the Dakar series, the Central Europe Rally through Hungary and Romania. The German duo Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk in its first event in the Race Touareg had finished the rally in third place. Seven of the seven possible stage victories went to the Race Touareg powered by a 280-hg TDI diesel engine.

"The first round of the Dakar Series was marked by extremely fierce competition, exemplary organisation and challenging terrain,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "We’re pleased to accept the challenge of this second new competition run by the ‘Dakar’ organiser ASO, which again promises to deliver first-class cross-country rally racing. What’s more, before the 2009 ‘Dakar’ in South America this rally offers another opportunity to match our capabilities with our main rivals, Mitsubishi and X-Raid BMW, in toughest competitive conditions. We’re looking forward to this comparison because we’ve won four of our five past rallies and want to add another victory to this tally.”

www.offroadphoto.com

[derco]

THE LAST BATTLE BEFORE DAKAR
Euromilhões PAX Rally with great names of international cross-country

With the approaching date of closure of entries for the Euromilhões PAX Rally 2008, several notable world class competitors have already confirmed their presence in this race with the Dakar Series Label. Portugal can expect a competition at the highest level, with major international drivers not wanting to lose the opportunity to face up on national soil.

The Euromilhões Pax Rally will also host the final battle before the Argentina-Chile Dakar. In late April, in Budapest, Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen) won Central Europe Rally with just 2m,01s advantage over Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi) and 6m34s over the German Dieter Depping (Volkswagen). These three names will be once again face-to-face in Euromilhões PAX Rally, but the victory has more suitors. Nani Roma and Luc Alphand strengthen the squad of Mitsubishi while Volkswagen has in Giniel de Villiers another asset to be taken into account. To these ones we shoud add the BMW X-Raid Team, with the always spectacular Nasser Al-Attyah and Orlando Terranova, which aim to complicate the life of the guys in the front. From Japan comes Kenjiro Shinozuka with the colors of Team Tecnosport, and from France the Subaru Team, with Morgan Picard.

But if in international level the competition is packed with stars, the Portuguese do not want also their credits to fall into others hands, and at the departure there will be important names of cross-country. The excellence of the organization, the possibility of confrontation with the main international teams and the high media coverage - since the Euromilhões PAX Rally will be broadcast in the entire world, with special emphasis on countries like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China, North and South America and Japan, through various agreements with Eurosport channel and strong national coverage from RTP - are more than enough ingredients to confirm the presence of drivers like Ricardo Leal dos Santos, Hélder Oliveira, Pedro Grancha, Alexandre Ré and Francisco and Nuno Inocêncio among others. Head of the Portuguese crew will be Filipe Campos, the current leader of the Portuguese Cross-Country Championship, and who, after the fantastic third place in the last "Baja Spain", will measure forces with the main stars of the sport with a BMW X3.

On the two wheels, the emotion will not be less. If KTM brings to Portugal there stars Cyrill Despres, Marc Coma and David Casteu (winner of the first the Dakar Series event), Honda Europe will be represented by eight competitors, determined to interrupt the path of the Austrian brand. Among the Portuguese competitors, emphasis to the presence of Helder Rodrigues, Ruben Faria, Bianchi Prata and Paulo Gonçalves, among others, all with great chances to fight for victory.

About this issue, Joana Lemos, President of the Organizing Committee, said: "I am very confident, and above all very pleased with the high level of competitors we have in all categories. Is without doubt a strong guarantee for a great spectacle, and high competitiveness that all they will provide to all lovers of this discipline which is the cross-country".


Source : www.paxrally.com

[derco]

Hi to all.

I've allready uploaded the images from the 1st stage of the PAX Rally

At the moment only the cars images are online, but the motos will follow still today.

The images could be found in...

www.offroadphoto.com , then go the menu option "galerias" on the left of the your screen.



Regards.

[dfmcse]

derco, I appreciate you posting the links and keeping us informed about what's happening in your area. Always glad to see photos of marathon rally hardware and competitors. I'm looking forward to your future posts.:)