Eleven of Fourteen Stages completed – Where are the US drivers positioned?

With 11 of 14 Dakar Stages completed the race is almost finished, but it’s never over until it is over. All of the American eyes have been on the four US entrants Robby Gordon, Mark Miller, BJ Baldwin and Jonah Street.
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Volkswagen still lead – Al-Attiyah reduces deficit to Sainz

Wolfsburg (13 January 2010). Volkswagen defended its lead on the eleventh of the 14 stages in the Dakar Rally: The three Volkswagen Race Touareg cars continue to lead the overall standings after the second Andes crossing from Chile to Argentina. The name of the potential winner still remains wide open: The leaders Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) lost 5 minutes 38 seconds of their lead to Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA). The closest rivals – Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F/F) in an X-raid BMW – are already 2 hours 9 minutes behind the leader in fourth place. Read more

Team HUMMER – Stage 10 Recap

Santiago, Chile (January 12, 2010) – Competitors from Team HUMMER completed the tenth of fourteen stages in the Dakar Rally today. Drivers travelled a total of 586 km from La Serena to Santiago, and completed a 238 km timed special composed mostly of fast, winding track. After leaving the Atacama Desert, they were exposed to the dense vegetation and hilly terrain of Chile as they travelled to Santiago. The stage was further complicated by the winding tracks, which could cost valuable time. Completing Stage 10 without any major mistakes is essential to successfully completing the Dakar Rally. Read more

Team HUMMER – Stage 9 Recap

La Serena, Chile (January 11, 2010) – Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally presented another unique set of challenges for Team HUMMER on Monday as they travelled from Copiapo to La Serena. The start of today’s special was delayed due to dense fog setting in Copiapo over the last few days. Due to the delay, organizers for the Dakar Rally also shortened the route from 547 km to just a total of 354 km, with only 170 km timed. Stage 9 also marked the final day of competition in the Atacama Desert and allowed competitors one last chance to gain ground across the desert’s sand and dunes. By the time drivers reach La Serena, they will have conquered the most technically challenging portion of the rally’s course, but they will still need to complete five additional stages before returning to Buenos Aires for the successful completion of the 2010 Dakar Rally. Read more

Volkswagen celebrates fifth stage win – three Race Touareg lead

Wolfsburg (12 January 2010). The Spaniards Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) increased their lead over their two team mates in the overall standings following the duo’s first stage victory and Volkswagen’s fifth so far this year in the 2010 Dakar Rally. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) are now second 10 minutes 6 seconds behind the leaders, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the third Race Touareg trail the leaders by a margin of 28 minutes 19 seconds.

The three leaders in the overall standings were incredibly evenly matched after more than three hours of driving through the tenth “Dakar” stage: Sainz, Al-Attiyah and Miller reached the finish in team formation covered by a mere 1 minute 40 seconds. Read more

One-two-three for Volkswagen – third stage win for Al-Attiyah

Wolfsburg (11 January 2010). Volkswagen claim first three positions on stage, three “Blues” head overall standings: The TDI diesel powered Race Touareg continued to set the benchmark on the ninth of the 14-day long 2010 Dakar Rally. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) claimed the day’s victory on the route between Copiapó and La Serena in Chile ahead of their team mates Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D). Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) recorded the fifth fastest time in another Race Touareg behind the French X-raid driver Guerlain Chicherit in a BMW. Carlos Sainz continues to lead the overall standings from Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller. Al-Attiyah reduced his deficit to the leader by six minutes to only 8 minutes 36 seconds. Read more

Good start to second-half: Volkswagen defends first three places

Wolfsburg (10 January 2010). Three “Blues” top the leader board: Volkswagen comfortably defended its first three positions overall on the Dakar Rally’s eighth stage between Antofagasta to Copiapó. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) finished second on the day and continue to hold the overall lead by 14 minutes 35 seconds ahead of their team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) and 22 minutes 28 seconds in front of Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA). Read more

Team HUMMER – Stage 8 Recap

Copiapo, Chile (January 10, 2010) – After a much needed rest day on Saturday, Team HUMMER returned to face the unforgiving Atacama in Stage 8 of the Dakar Rally. The competitors covered 568 km as they traveled from Antofagasta to Copiapo. To start the day, the drivers had to navigate their way through extremely rocky terrain where the slightest mistake can cost the most experienced competitor precious minutes. As the stage progressed, the pace quickened as the drivers covered approximately 300 km of winding, fast tracks leading to the frequent dune zones above Copiapo. After conquering the dunes, competitors raced through the final 90 km, which was composed completely of sand. Read more

Jonah Street after 7 Stages

After 7 Stages of intense competition, Jonah Street holds the 7th place position in the Dakar Rally. The rally is half-way done. The competitors rest while the assistance crews repair and prepare machinery for the second half of this race. Niles Follin and the Rally Pan Am crew will replace Jonah’s engine today as part of their scheduled service.

The 2010 Dakar has, so far, been rough, difficult, and very competitive. Stage 3 was especially tough, eliminating a significant part of the field who failed to finish. Every Stage has challenged the riders with silt, rocks and sand. Rally Pan Am’s Jonah Street has raced the first half of this rally conservatively, keeping his motorcycle and his body intact, avoiding penalties, risks and navigation errors, but keeping up an incredible pace. Today, he is feeling fine and his Top One Oil/ PAi race bike is as fresh as it was in Buenos Aires at the start. In this, the most challenging of motorsports events, Jonah plans to continue his clean ride. His consistent speed will keep him in position to capitalize on every opportunity. Since “anything can happen in the Dakar,” Jonah’s plan is first to finish. Follow the excitement on the team’s website at www.rallypanam.com or find Rally Pan Am’s team page on facebook.

Team HUMMER – Stage 7 Recap

Antofagasta, Chile (January 8, 2010) – Today marked the longest special of the grueling 14 stage Dakar Rally for Team HUMMER. Measuring in at 641 km, the special was made even more difficult by the varied terrain that competitors had to race across. As competitors travelled from Antofagasta to Iquique they encountered everything from areas of fast off-track, to slow track, to windy track and even a salar. Stage 7, which was expected to take competitors around seven hours to complete, was filled with magnificent views of the Chilean landscape. Drivers were challenged early in the day as they crossed over sand dunes.   Read more

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