2013 WRC countdown begins: Volkswagen Motorsport completes first rally event in Finland The countdown starts – Volkswagen contests the FIA World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC from 2013. In the Neste Oil Rally Finland, the eighth of 13 World Championship rounds this year, the Volkswagen Motorsport team completed its first test rally with cars from the group brand Škoda this weekend. A pair of 270 hp Škoda Fabia S2000 from the SWRC were used and driven by the Norwegian driver pair Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene and the Finnish duo Joonas Lindroos/Pasi Kilpeläinen. Unfortunately both Škodas failed to make the finish on their rally debut for Volkswagen Motorsport. Lindroos/Kilpeläinen retired after rolling on the eighth special stage, radiator damage caused by a stone on the 17th stage meant the end for Mikkelsen/ Floene.

“Despite the two retirements the rally was a successful start for the entire team,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “The service crews did an excellent job during their first event. The procedures functioned very well, my thanks to the whole team. The driver pairings also did a great job. Andreas Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Floene were particularly impressive and showed flashes of brilliance. In general, we collected valuable experience during this first rally weekend and learnt a great deal. We now look forward to competing in the ADAC Rally Germany in the middle of August.”

Norwegian duo Mikkelsen/Floene put in a faultless and consistent performance throughout the entire weekend. The car with start number 54 ran strongly in third position before a stone robbed all hopes of a podium on stage 17. Unfortunately, at kilometre 12.7 a stone hit and penetrated the radiator on the Škoda S2000. Mikkelsen actually finished the stage with the second fastest time in the SWRC category ahead of leader Juho Hänninen. However, it was not possible to continue driving. Mikkelsen held 15th position in the overall standings at that time. “I tried to fulfil the team goals: to get to the finish quickly but without accidents,” says the 22-year old. “On the whole I really enjoyed the weekend with Volkswagen Motorsport. The atmosphere in the team is fantastic and I hope that it wasn’t my last rally for them.”

The Finnish weekend ran less smoothly for Lindroos/Kilpeläinen: two accidents on the sixth and eighth stages ended any hope of running among the leaders in front of the home crowd.

The Volkswagen Motorsport team will compete in other selected rallies in 2011 with cars from the Volkswagen group brand Škoda. Top talents will be given the opportunity to qualify for a 2013 WRC cockpit in the Polo R WRC during these competitive rallies. The German Christian Riedemann and Heins Weijs from the Netherlands aim to showcase their abilities at the next World Championship round the ADAC German Rally (18-21 August) in Trier.

The countdown is underway – in 2013 Volkswagen will start to contest the FIA World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC. Until then a rally car with about 300 hp based on the Polo is being developed. To gather initial experience in the World Rally Championship, the team will be contesting selected rallies in 2011 with vehicles from the Volkswagen Group’s Škoda brand. At these rounds top talents are to be given the chance to qualify for a cockpit in the Polo R WRC in a new talent assessment programme under competitive conditions.

“In addition to a few top-calibre rally racers we want to present top talents in our 2013 driver line-up,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “Therefore, we will be giving young racers in particular an opportunity to show their skills at our runs in competitive conditions. This is the best way to see who is doing a good job of driving and would fit into the Volkswagen rally team. It would be great if we could find a new Walter Röhrl or Michèle Mouton using this approach.”

The first run will be at the Finland Rally from 28 to 31 July for which Volkswagen Motorsport has submitted entries for two Scandinavian driver pairings. The rally car will be the 270-hp Škoda Fabia S2000 from the SWRC, a subcategory of the World Rally Championship for vehicles with normally aspirated 2.0-litre engines.

The first car will be driven by the pairing Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (driver/co-driver). Mikkelsen, aged 22, in his early youth was active in alpine skiing and motocross events and a member of the Norwegian national youth team in both sports. In 2006 he made his debut in rally racing at the WRC round in Great Britain. In the 2011 season the Norwegian who lives in Oslo is driving for Škoda England in the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge).

The second cockpit crew carries the Finnish national flag. Joonas Lindroos/Pasi Kilpeläinen will drive down the starting ramp in their native country. Like Mikkelsen Lindroos ranks among the top young drivers in rally sport. The 26-year-old from the small town of Jämsä has been successfully driving in the national championship in the team of the four-time world champion Tommi Mäkinen since 2010.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk made a victorious showing in the Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 at the Ha’il Rally through Saudi Arabia.
 

The rally in the country that neighbours Al-Attiyah’s native Qatar on the west marked the duo’s first run after their triumphant victory at the Dakar Rally through South America with Volkswagen in January 2011. Al-Attiyah and Gottschalk used the Ha’il Rally as an opportunity to present themselves and the 310-hp cross-country rally prototype from Wolfsburg to the numerous Arab fans. On three days the rally route covered a total distance of 400 kilometres around the town of Maghwat in Central Saudi Arabia. Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk kept firm control of the prologue and the two special stages which featured smaller dunes and quick sandy stretches. The Volkswagen duo won the event ahead of Mtair Al Shamary and Saleh Al Saleh (both Toyota). For the Race Touareg, this was the 16th overall win at its 31st rally.
 
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
“We are pleased that we had the opportunity to present the ‘Dakar’ winner in the region he hails from – as well as to the many rally enthusiasts in the Arab region. Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk left a good impression of Volkswagen in Saudi-Arabia and demonstrated the technological fortes of the Race Touareg at this very well organised rally. But above all, the crowd of rally fans gave Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk a very warm welcome. All in all, it was a short but successful rally for us.”
 
#1 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 1st place, stages, 1st place overall
“I contested the Ha’il Rally two years ago, so I was pleased to accept the organiser’s invitation to compete here. The Ha’il is a very well organised event down to the smallest detail. To drive in front of the Arab fans as the ‘Dakar’ winner and to be cheered by them at the start and finish is obviously a very special thing. Thanks to some smaller dunes as well as stony sections the rally was good practice for my co-driver Timo Gottschalk and me.”
 
#1 – Timo Gottschalk (D), co-driver
“Navigating at the Ha’il Rally was certainly tricky. Compared to the ‘Dakar’ there was a stronger focus on GPS navigation and less on reading the roadbook. The route took us through some really beautiful landscapes – through mountainous passages on gravel but also through the soft sand of some smaller dunes. In addition, we got to see a lot of the country and the people at the service park that was specially built for this rally. And from a sporting perspective it was a successful excursion into the Arab rally world as well.”

Wolfsburg (17 January 2011). On Sunday after 13 brutal “Dakar” stages for man and machine Nasser Al-Attiyah let himself be transported triumphantly across the ramp on the roof of the Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 by co-driver Timo Gottschalk and celebrated by thousands of enthusiastic fans in Buenos Aires as winner of the motorsport marathon. This closing scene of the 2011 “Dakar”, which went with emotional force around the world as powerful images, symbolises two totally different sportsmen, who achieved something exceptional: Their first Dakar Rally win.

Both were instrumental on the near 9,600 kilometre long acid test through Argentina and Chile – through the sweltering heat of the Sierras Pampeanas and Atacama Desert, among the peaks of the mighty Andes and from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back – in fulfilling their respective youthful dreams of winning the “Dakar”. At 15-years of age Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar promised his father he would win the legendary desert classic once. Now, after the long-awaited victory is reality, the 40-year old will be honoured as his nation’s top sportsman with a huge welcome celebration in XXL style.

“As I drove the first few metres with Nasser I thought he doesn’t know where the limit is and would permanently exceed it,” remembers navigator Timo Gottschalk of his first drive together in the Volkswagen Race Touareg during a test in Hungary at the beginning of June, 2009. “After a while I really noticed that he was well aware of how to assess the risks involved, that he has incredible car control and his driving style is not always maximum attack.” For Al-Attiyah, with whom the conscientious man from Neuruppin forms a duo since the Rallye dos Sertões in 2009, the exceptional quality of the partnership was obvious from the first minute. “From the very beginning with Timo it felt as if we had already driven together for years,” says the personable Arab. “Timo is like a brother for me. I can depend on him completely.” Who is the boss in the car? “Very obviously Nasser,” says Timo Gottschalk. “But I give the orders.”

Life style with 1,001 hp: Motorsport multi-talent Nasser Al-Attiyah

Winning the Dakar Rally means realising a long-cherished goal in life for Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari had kept one of two central spaces free in his cabinet for the exceptionally large “Dakar” trophy. The Olympic gold medal for clay pigeon shooting should fill the other, for which Al-Attiyah trains every day for this non-motorsport activity – relaxation and preparation for the “Dakar” in one. However, the expert in conquering sand dunes at the wheel of an automobile does not have much time at home in the desert Emirate: Al-Attiyah is driven by speed and is travels permanently around the world at racing speed. In addition to his events for the Volkswagen factor team in the Dakar Rally and the preparation rallies the horse lover regularly contests rounds of the World Rally Championship and sprint rallies in the FIA Middle East Championship. With success: Al-Attiyah can claim a total of six titles to date in classic rally championships. In June 2010 at the 24-hour race around the Nürburgring-Nordschleife he celebrated class victory in the Volkswagen Scirocco GT24-CNG for cars with alternative drives. What makes the “Dakar” victory so special for Al-Attiyah? “The ‘Dakar’ is, after all, the ‘Dakar’. It is the toughest test in motorsport and my absolute favourite rally,” says Al-Attiyah. “There is no better arena than this one to prove what you are capable of.” During the 33rd running of the marathon this meant controlled attack at the right moment for Al-Attiyah. “This year Nasser drove cleverly and forward-thinking like never before,” praises co-driver Timo Gottschalk. “He even accepted losing time on stony sections so as not to risk damaging tyres. Instead he attacked where he felt very comfortable: In the dunes. This was one of the keys to victory.”

Meticulous worker with both feet on the ground: Timo Gottschalk

“Timo knows to calm me down in the cockpit when necessary. He is a calm and relaxed thoroughly honest guy,” according to Nasser Al-Attiyah, who already thinks about the future together. “Now we are ‘Dakar’ winners and everybody will want to beat us. So, you have to be even better prepared and even more professional. If this is still even possible to improve when compared to now, then Timo is the right man for the job.” Timo Gottschalk is in fact a meticulous operator for success. Like every co-driver in the Volkswagen “Dakar” team he navigates during the day at race pace. In the evening and occasionally into the early hours of the morning preparation of the road book for the following day is on the agenda. “An incredibly tiring job, during which you ask yourself at least once a day why you actually do it,” says the 36-year old. “But when you reach the big goal you know why you subject yourself to the whole thing. It’s an incredibly great feeling to be ‘Dakar’ winner.”

Timo Gottschalk, who, in addition to his job as Volkswagen co-driver, also works as vehicle technology engineer and runs a car and motorcycle workshop in his hometown of Rheinsberg, is not in danger of ‘taking off’ in view of the success. He has both feet securely anchored on the ground. The down-to-earth guy has found happiness with his girlfriend Ine. Gottschalk lives together with her and her children in their house in Rheinsberg. “I have found my perfect personal environment, which gives me a lot of energy and support and is the perfect contrast to the hectic motorsport business.”

Perfect harmony outside the cockpit, constructive inside: The closely-knit team Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk only clashed with one another on a couple of occasions during the 2011 Dakar Rally when quick decisions were required. “We do get loud sometimes if we have different opinions,” says Al-Attiyah. “But only for a few seconds, since we convert this energy into sporting motivation. There are no serious quarrels between us.”

What was the Arab doing on the roof of the Race Touareg 3 at the finish line? “I would have loved to have flown up to heaven and then straight to Qatar where the people celebrate our victory in the streets. I would have loved to have been a part of it.” And if the physics could be overcome: Timo Gottschalk knows the way.

Volkswagen Motorsport public website: www.volkswagen-motorsport.com

2011 Dakar Rally info: www.dakar.com

Volkswagen “Dakar” iPhone app: www.volkswagen-motorsport.com/dakar_iPhone

The Superstar of Rally Basks in the Glory of His First DAKAR Title

Nasser Al-Attiyah, the much beloved Qatari prince, battled with 2010 DAKAR champion Carlos Sainz to earn his first ever DAKAR rally in his VW Race Touareg 3. It was a fine battle and a decisive one after the sandy dunes of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile provided Al-Attiyah the opportunity to take the lead from Sainz, who had led the rally from very early on. Both Al-Attiyah and Sainz have had very heated battles on the stages last year and now, especially after a very close physical day on the course of stage 8 from Antofagasta to Copiapó, Chile, the small town where the 33 Chilean miners had been trapped for 69 days in 2010. After that stage the drivers had a very animated exchange at the finish line. Growing up in the sandy desert of Qatar, Al-Attiyah has the edge to succeed in the South American stages of the Dakar, which crossed the Atacama Desert several times midway through the rally.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk celebrating the hard earned Trophy

Al-Attiyah waged his war of “Yalla Yalla” against stable mate Sainz last year in the rally as well, so this year was especially sweat for the 40 year old, who is also an Olympic skeet shooter for his home country. The humbleness and gratitude this superstar portrays has caused him to become one of the most popular motorsports figures on the planet and his prowess to earn the respect and admiration of his followers is only going to grow as he proceeds into the coming season. When he speaks to the media, it is always with a positive and optimistic smile and a contagious attitude of friendliness and sportsmanship.

“Yalla Yalla” is Nasser’s way of meaning, “Let’s go. Full Attack”, and this is what separates the top drivers from those finishing off the podium. According to VW’s Motorsports team manager Chris Nissan, the top drivers in the rally are those who spare no expense at taking chances when cresting blind ridges and taking every risk on blitzing some of the longer downhill tracks. In one such dramatic descent to the finish area of stage 5 in Iquique, Chile, Nasser’s “Full Yalla Yalla” at 200km down a 3000’ sand dune, proved to be a crowd pleaser. Interestingly, before the final stage 13 to from Cordoba to Baradera, Argentine, Nasser promised only “half yalla yalla” because of his wide lead over Giniel De Viliers and Carlos Sainz.

For VW it is a third straight victory at the DAKAR after bidding its first campaign with the Touareg in 2004. The dominance of the VW team is exemplified by the Germans’ notoriously meticulous eye for precision and as well as perfection. Nowhere else in the bivouac is there a more capable and competent team of engineers, drivers and support staff and this is the reason for the VW team sweeping the podium at the DAKAR. Accordingly, the German standard for excellence transcends to VW Motorsports selection of the drivers and co-drivers they enlist for the world’s most prestigious rally. Throughout the entire rally and beyond, the VW drivers make themselves readily available to the crowd and to the media, something that other motorsports disciplines and team greatly lack.

To celebrate their third straight DAKAR title and the sweeping of the podium, VW hosted a special reception after the podium in Buenos Aires that honored the team and the drivers who made this victory possible for this truly dominant and exceptional motorsports program. Although the future of VW Motorsports’ objectives for DAKAR are totally unclear at this time, we do know that each of their 4 drivers will have every opportunity to return to the DAKAR in 2012 regardless of whether VW continues it Dakar Rally program.

Wolfsburg (15 January 2011). Tumultuous celebration at the “Dakar” finish: Volkswagen has won the Dakar Rally for the third time in succession. Standing alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) on the podium in Buenos Aires on Sunday will be Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E). In front of millions of enthusiastic spectators the new Race Touareg 3 scored a much celebrated one-two-three finish in the desert classic through Argentina and Chile. As a result, Volkswagen is the only manufacturer to have won the automobile category in the desert classic with diesel technology – and remains unbeaten on the South American continent thanks to TDI power. To complete the victory all three cars must still roll across the winner’s ramp on Sunday and midday local time in Buenos Aires.

Three Volkswagen “Dakar” winners on the Podium

With Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar and Timo Gottschalk from Germany a third duo clinched a “Dakar” victory for Volkswagen in the 33rd running of the motorsport marathon. Thanks to superior and exceptionally durable high-tech made in Wolfsburg, the three victorious driver/co-driver pairs from the previous three years mount the winners’ podium as first, second and third – an expression of a harmonious and strong driving squad that dominated the 2011 “Dakar” from the beginning.

Volkswagen alone is credited with 12 of a possible 13 stage victories. Carlos Sainz realised a personal best with his stage victory on the way to Buenos Aires: Now with stage win number 24 he surpasses the 23 stage victories scored in the car class by current rival Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel. One of the Volkswagen teams led the rally, with its many extremely hard stages, from the start. The challenges: winding gravel roads, soft and deep desert sand in the unrelenting Atacama Desert, navigationally demanding sections through labyrinth-like canyons and washed-out river beds as well as spectacular river crossings. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) completed the solid Volkswagen team performance in sixth position. All four Race Touareg 3 that started finished the rally in leading positions and continued the success story of enviable reliability: Volkswagen has not recorded a single technically related retirement in cross country rallying in four years.

The three pillars of a historic victory

Reliable technology, perfect teamwork and strong driver squad – Volkswagen once again set the standards during the 2011 Dakar Rally with this winning formula. The TDI technology, which represents efficiency and reliability in millions of Volkswagen road cars, revolutionised cross country rallying. Thanks to the powerful and compact design it is also pioneering in the “Dakar”. The four 310 hp Race Touareg 3 spooled-off the approximate 9,600 kilometres overall distance with clockwork precision – and in the process always perfectly prepared for the forthcoming rally day by a closely-knit team and prepared tactically astute by Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. In addition to the service crew on location, the employees in Wolfsburg and Hanover undertook careful preparatory work beforehand – indispensable for the “Dakar” win. The technological basis – unbeaten since the end of 2008 – was converted by Sainz/Cruz into seven, Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk into four and de Villiers/von Zitzewitz into one stage victory.

The three: new Race Touareg triumph on debut

The third generation Race Touareg equipped with a 2.5 litre TDI engine and permanent four-wheel drive completed its “Dakar” premiere successfully from the beginning. The power unit’s in-line 5-cylinder, bi-turbo design guaranteeing compact dimensions and low overall weight when compared to its direct competition proved to be the best overall package for the third time in succession suiting both the WRC-like tracks and the extreme dune crossings. The TDI engine in the Race Touareg 3 is one of the most powerful and, at the same time, most efficient diesel power units in motorsport.

On extremely hot stages, where ambient temperatures neared 60 degrees Celsius, the new cooling concept paid dividends for the extreme prototype from Wolfsburg. Thanks to improved air flow and an optimised radiator the Race Touareg 3 shrugged off the boiling heat in Chile’s Atacama Desert and the extreme conditions in the notorious dunes in the Sierras Pampeanas around Fiambalá in Argentina. Reliability combined with speed – on every terrain Volkswagen demonstrated its technical expertise during the 2011 “Dakar”.

The three: multiple-winners made in Wolfsburg

One-two in 2009, one-two-three in 2010, one-two-three in 2011 – Volkswagen continues an irresistible winning streak in the Dakar Rally. The Wolfsburg based brand has been pace setter since the event moved from Africa to South America. In January 2009, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz recorded the brand’s first “Dakar” victory since the prototype project started in 2004, followed by their team mates Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA). It was the second Volkswagen win in motorsport’s toughest test after Freddy Kottulinsky/Gerd Löffelmann (S/D) had won in a production based Volkswagen Iltis in 1980. In 2010, the first one/two/three followed with Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) claiming victory from their Volkswagen team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the closest ever “Dakar” finish in history. Number three marks the successful revenge for Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk – also an important entry in their career histories.

Nasser Al-Attiyah becomes the first Arab in the desert classic’s history to be presented with the big “Dakar” trophy. The Qatari won in his sixth “Dakar” competition, his second for Volkswagen, for the first time. His navigator Timo Gottschalk is only the fourth co-driver, after Gerd Löffelmann, Andreas Schulz and Dirk von Zitzewitz, to bring the “Dakar” victory to Germany – a premiere for the vehicle technology engineer living in Rheinsberg, Brandenburg.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“The third successive ‘Dakar’ victory for Volkswagen is a historic performance which was achieved thanks to perfect teamwork, exceptional driving and navigational skills and more specifically thanks to superior technology. I’m incredibly proud of the entire team, both the employees who made this win possible and also the team with its superhuman efforts here on location. It was without a shadow of doubt the toughest ‘Dakar’ that we have ever contested, and also probably the best organised. My compliments therefore also go to the organiser A.S.O. I think we proved that the Race Touareg 3 is currently the world’s most reliable and strongest cross country rally vehicle. This is the result of years of hard work. Congratulations to Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk who have worked outstandingly and obviously also to the other Volkswagen pairs who made this one-two-three finish possible.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 1st position overall

“My first ‘Dakar’ win. I’m absolutely delighted to have been the first Arab to win the world’s toughest desert rally. These feelings are incredibly difficult to express in words. I reached my greatest goal thanks to the world’s best cross country rally car and the best team in this sport. I’m delighted for the entire squad which slaved around the clock for three weeks for this victory. In Timo Gottschalk I have an exceptional co-driver at my side, who played an immense role in this victory. Today we’ll party like there’s no tomorrow.”

#302 – Timo Gottschalk (D), co-driver

“Victory in the ‘Dakar’ – I can still hardly believe it. Over last few days we built up a comfortable advantage and things looked really good for us in the previous stages. Nevertheless, everybody ignored any thoughts of victory, because anything can happen in this rally even within sight of the finish. I’m proud and happy about the win. It was the hardest ‘Dakar’ which I have ever contested. We’ve now spent two weeks at the absolute physical limit. The organiser kept its promise of wanting to stage the toughest Dakar Rally ever. To have won exactly this one is an incredibly good feeling.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 4th place leg / 2nd position overall

“The Dakar Rally is an extremely long race during which a great deal can happen. At the beginning we tried to drive cautiously and tactically. Because you only have a chance of getting a good result if you reach the finish. This approach brought us second place and I’m delighted about the result. A podium finish in the Dakar Rally is always something special. Something we can personally be proud of. The team can be proud of making first, second and third positions possible.”

#308 – Dirk von Zitzewitz (D), co-driver

“An incredibly demanding ‘Dakar’ because the days were extremely long. In the mornings you had to get up very early, we only reached the bivouac in the late afternoon. There were loads of changes to the roadbook, which duly gave us co-drivers plenty of work during the night. The stages were also physically challenging. In the Atacama Desert the navigation could certainly have been a little more challenging, which was the case in Argentina, as is fitting for a ‘Dakar’. My highlight was the Fiambalá stage which we won because of perfect navigation. All in all a positive Dakar Rally for me – especially because second overall was the reward.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 3rd position overall

“All in all I’m more than satisfied with 2011 Dakar Rally. I think that my co-driver Lucas Cruz and I did a good job and therefore were rightfully fighting for victory for a long time. Unfortunately two bad days and several mistakes cost us any chance of overall victory. But this is the Dakar Rally: You always have to be alert. I’m delighted for the entire Volkswagen team, which truly deserves this one-two-three finish, and to have contributed to it. Everybody worked hard for this win.”

#300 – Lucas Cruz (E), co-driver

“This was by far the most challenging ‘Dakar’ that I have ever completed. It was full of tricky situations for a navigator which had to be solved with caution. There were plenty of dune sections of soft sand which meant an incredible amount of work for the driver in the cockpit. On top of this were the WRC-like sections with jumps and extreme temperatures. The rally was very varied. However, the Race Touareg 3 is the perfect car for such conditions. From the sporting point of view we were beaten for the first time since Carlos Sainz and I compete together. However, I think that we nevertheless did a good job. Luck deserted us on occasion.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 5th place leg / 6th position overall

“This ‘Dakar’ was a wonderful event, with many interesting stages that demanded everything from man and machine. Unfortunately we lost so much time already on the second stage that we were out of the battle for overall victory. Our role was then to support our team mates – a task we were happy to do. When you work an entire year as team for victory, it goes without saying that you support one another to reach the targets. We did exactly this with energy and vigour on the eleventh stage to help Carlos Sainz onto the podium.”

#304 – Ralph Pitchford (ZA), co-driver

“This year on the Dakar Rally there were many hard stages that ran through fascinating landscapes. Mark and I had real highlight stages which we really enjoyed. Unfortunately we lost our chance of overall victory right at the beginning. However, I’m delighted for the entire team that it turned out to be a one-two-three finish. I think this is just reward. Now, after the last stage and after all the tension has gone we’ll have a big celebration. It was fantastic to have worked together with this team. We have all earned the fun and relaxation which comes now.”

Number of the day

During the 33rd running of the desert classic, the total length of felt pen markings made while “Dakar” winner Timo Gottschalk prepared his road book was 120 metres. For better identification of the directions at rally pace the German uses five different day-glow marker pens.

Results

Final result after leg 13, Córdoba (RA)–Buenos Aires (RA); 181/826 km SS 13/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 13 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 1h 16m 46s (2); 45h 16m 16s

2 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 1h 18m 06s (4) + 49m 41s

3 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 1h 16m 08s (1) + 1h 20m 38s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 1h 19m 05s (6) + 1h 43m 48s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 1h 17m 33s (3) + 4h 11m 21s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 1h 18m 10s (5) + 4h 54m 42s

7 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 1h 27m 16s (11) + 6h 50m 07s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 1h 25m 07s (10) + 7h 57m 18s

9 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 1h 20m 06s (7) + 8h 23m 37s

10 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 1h 28m 02s (12) + 15h 11m 56s

Wolfsburg (14 January 2011). The Volkswagen factory drivers also dominated events on the twelfth and penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally: A one-two-three led by Carlos Sainz (E) from Giniel de Villiers (ZA) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q) proved impressively the qualities of the Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 and its driving crews on the longest stage. All three also occupy the first three positions in the overall standings: The leader Nasser Al-Attiyah has the best chance of overall victory ahead of de Villiers and Sainz.

“It looks much easier from the outside than it really is. In view of the results you could almost think that only Volkswagen was participating in the 2011 Dakar Rally,” stresses Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “There were however, in addition to the four Volkswagens, actually seven BMWs, two Hummers, a Mini and also cars from Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan competing. The dominance can easily be attributed to the best car in the field – the new Volkswagen Race Touareg 3. It was entered by the best team in this sport and driven by the best drivers and co-drivers. They have worked towards achieving this goal for one year. Thanks to all the Volkswagen Motorsport employees, whether they are at home in Germany or on location in South America. Such success would not have been possible without these employees.”

Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) secured their sixth stage win on the way from San Juan to Córdoba – the eleventh for Volkswagen in the 2011 “Dakar”. Their team mates Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) followed only 2 minutes 43 seconds behind. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) arrived at the finish another 3 minutes 28 seconds behind. The two overall leaders could take a more controlled approach: In the overall standings they have a 48 minute 21 second advantage over de Villiers. Carlos Sainz completes the Volkswagen trio at the head of the rally leader board in third place. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) continue to hold sixth place.

The twelfth of 13 stages was dominated by several lead changes and an extremely demanding route with many changes of direction and crests. Stéphane Peterhansel initially controlled the pace in the X-raid-BMW. The Giniel de Villiers assumed the lead which he lost to Carlos Sainz from the middle of the stage. At 555 kilometres in length today’s stage was the longest of the entire rally. The route was so soft in place due to the heavy rain that those responsible had to neutralise the stage for the cars between route-kilometres 294 and 341.

On Saturday an 826 kilometre long final stage is on the agenda, whereby the actual stage length is only 181 kilometre. The Volkswagen duo Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk has the best chance of taking their first overall victory in the Dakar Rally.

Quotes

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 3rd position overall

“Today was all about finding our rhythm again after our problems over the course of the last two days. We had loads of cars to overtake. Luckily the dust wasn’t too bad and we encountered a lot of help. We only got stuck a little longer behind one of the X-raid-BMW’s. When we had overtaken it we got a puncture and had to pass it again. It’s a fantastic thing to have equalled Stéphane Peterhansel’s tally of 23 ‘Dakar’ stage victories. I have to thank my mechanics who gave me a perfect car.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 3rd place leg / 1st position overall

“It was anything but easy to maintain concentration today. It was a long stage during which my thoughts wandered into the future. Nevertheless, we quickly found our rhythm and a good pace, which meant as little risk as possible. Tomorrow there is another near 180 kilometre stage on the agenda. I hope we can enjoy it with our comfortable lead and not get nervous. If we finish it without problems I hope that we’ll have plenty of reason to celebrate. Till then we still have to do our jobs.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 6th place leg / 6th position overall

“At the beginning of the stage we waited for Carlos as arranged, so we could run behind him. This belongs to our role as team player and we are happy to do it. Unfortunately we got stuck at a stupid place immediately after and lost more time. The stage today was long and hard. I’m now looking forward to the finale tomorrow, which hopefully brings the result Volkswagen deserves. It looks very good for the team, now we just have to bring the baby home. We’ll do everything possible to make sure this is the case.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 2nd place leg / 2nd position overall

“The first 220 kilometres just simply refused to end today. To me they seemed incredibly long and hard. There was a lot of mud and sodden tracks, which demanded everything. Today we decided to complete the stage by taking as little risk as possible. We caught up with both our team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah as well as Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW and the decided to follow them to the finish. This didn’t make the job any easier, but it was the best decision in order to complete the job in hand tomorrow, which is what we had in mind: the one-two-three for Volkswagen. But the ‘Dakar’ is relentless. We certainly shouldn’t underestimate the remaining 180 kilometres. We’ll all approach them with respect.”

Number of the day

The Race Touareg 3 electrical wiring system is comprised of a total of 2,543 metres of cable – if you placed every single strand lengthwise in a row. This represents a column of almost 600 Race Touareg 3 parked one after the other lengthways.

Did you know that…

… the Rally Dakar fleet had to prepare itself for significantly hotter outside temperatures on its return to Argentina? On the eleventh stage Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford and Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz completed the suspension repair on the Race Touareg in 54.9 degrees Celsius. The value measured in the shade in the air filter housing of the 310 hp “Dakar” prototype does not accurately reflect the actual prevailing heat. As there was no shadow to be found far and wide during the successful repair which kept Sainz/Cruz in the race for a podium position.

… the Volkswagen service crew completes around 7,000 kilometres during the “Dakar”, 588 of this alone today between San Juan and Córdoba? The employees rely on the energy drink supplied by main sponsor Red Bull on the journeys made by the “Blue Angels” during the day and occasionally during the night. In a study carried out by Utrecht University the drink containing taurine and caffeine was certified to increase concentration and to reduce the danger of falling asleep at the steering wheel when enjoyed on long motorway trips.

… in addition to Red Bull, 450 half-litre bottled drinks are consumed daily just by the mechanics during the service in the Volkswagen bivouac? 250 bottles of still water and 200 bottles of soft drinks keep the fluid intake balanced at temperatures verging on the 40 degree mark. Not included are the drinks consumed on the journey from bivouac to bivouac.

… Volkswagen transports its own carbon workshop from location to location during the Dakar Rally? Mike Zentner is ready every day to repair damaged bodywork components from carbon-fibre reinforced plastic – as it is correctly called. A job in demand: The tough stages on the 2011 “Dakar” with their potholes, steep downhill dune slopes and the vegetation occasionally protruding onto route frequently batters the exterior skin on the four Race Touareg 3 beyond breaking point.

Results

Standings after leg 12, San Juan (RA)–Córdoba (RA); 555/678 km SS 12/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 12 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 43m 29s (3); 43h 59m 30s

2 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 40m 01s (2) + 48m 21s

3 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 37m 18s (1) + 1h 21m 16s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 5h 44m 13s (4) + 1h 41m 29s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 5h 51m 09s (5) + 4h 10m 34s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 54m 09s (6) + 4h 53m 18s

7 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 6h 07m 28s (8) + 6h 39m 37s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 6h 29m 30s (12) + 7h 48m 57s

9 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 6h 02m 54s (7) + 8h 20m 17s

10 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 6h 25m 55s (10) + 15h 00m 40s

Wolfsburg (13 January 2011). The Volkswagen factory drivers Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) increased their lead at the top of the Dakar Rally standings on the eleventh stage. On the section from Chilecito to San Juan they recorded their fourth stage victory this year in the Race Touareg 3 and benefited at the same time from the bad luck of their team mates Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E). Last year’s winners from Spain dropped back due to damage on their car, but are still on course for a podium finish. New second placed duo is Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) in another Race Touareg.

Carlos Sainz, up to now second in the overall standings, led the cross country rally’s eleventh stage for almost 400 kilometres. Damage to the right-hand front suspension of his car then forced the Spaniard to stop and make repairs, during which last year’s winner lost a lot of time. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) stopped in the stage to help their team mates under inhuman conditions. Sainz/Cruz dropped back to third overall due to the repair work, their team mates Miller/Pitchford fell to sixth position.

Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW reached the stage finish second 1 minute 13 seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah. The third best time went to yesterday’s stage winner Giniel de Villiers. The 2009 “Dakar” Champion now sits 51 minutes 49 seconds behind Al-Attiyah in the overall standings.

Originally the eleventh stage at 622 kilometres would have been the longest of the entire rally. However, rain in the area around San Juan most recently caused deep erosion and new gorges. For safety reasons the organiser therefore cut 93 kilometres from the final section. As a result the distance dropped to 530 kilometres. To begin the teams crossed canyon terrain with plenty of bush vegetation at the foot of the Andes; afterwards they conquered a climb to over 3,200 metres before the stage ended at about 800 metres above sea level.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“A proverb in motorsport is – ‘To finish first, first you have to finish’. Congratulations to Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk for their performance today. It was a very exciting day for everyone. Carlos Sainz suffered suspension damage. Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford helped them with spare parts and energy and encouragement. I’m proud of the four as they completed the repair in record time. As a result we still lead the field with three Race Touareg cars. All in all a good day for Volkswagen.

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 14th place leg / 3rd position overall

“Today we really attacked and were about 25 seconds behind in the dust cloud kicked up by our team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah. This is a risky game and we knew this. Because of the dust we didn’t see a hole which we slid into when we locked the brakes. The suspension broke. Luckily our team mates Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford were directly behind us with spare parts and we could replace the destroyed components in record time in incredibly high temperatures. Thanks to Mark and Ralph’s help we still managed to reach third place overall. I’m really thankful for this. But today I’m not only simply exhausted I also need a new body.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 1st place leg / 1st position overall

“A few days ago I planned to approach the job in hand as clever as possible to the finish. Today there were two stages during which you had to be wide awake. In the first part we looked after the material as well as possible so we would be in a good position in the second part. It paid dividends. And although we were driving rather cautiously we still won the stage at the end. We now have a comfortable advantage, but this doesn’t mean anything if you don’t arrive in Buenos Aires. I’m not wasting any thoughts about winning. After all there are still two extremely tough days ahead of us.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 11th place leg / 6th position overall

“The day began with us having to make difficult overtaking manoeuvres on the cars running in the dust in front of us. We did well under these conditions. Just after the start of the second part of the stage we came across Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz who had suffered suspension damage. We worked fantastically together and solved the problem as quickly as possible. Normally you need at least two hours for this, we managed it in one. But this is exactly why we are one team.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 3rd place leg / 2nd position overall

“The second part of the stage was much harder than we had previously expected. The first part was also tricky. Many canyons and bushes meant plenty of work at the steering wheel. Owing to Carlos’ problem we made good a place in the overall standings. I feel sorry for him as he’d drive an outstanding race so far. However, it also shows that anything can happen every day during this extremely tough rally. You have to be alert all the way to the finish. This is also exactly what my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz and I plan to the finish in Buenos Aires.”

Number of the day

The Race Touareg 3 is comprised of 5,535 individual parts. The parts list shows 4,911 components for the chassis and 624 individual parts for the powerful 310 hp 2.5 litre TDI engine.

Three questions to crew chief Ralf Arneke

As crew chief you are responsible for organising the Volkswagen mechanics. Is it difficult – especially towards the end of the “Dakar” – to keep the motivation high?

“Quite honestly it’s actually relatively simple. We are in the comfortable position of being in front with three cars. You certainly don’t need to motivate the relevant crews. The other two teams also do their job 100 per cent professionally every day.”

Everybody in the Volkswagen team has at least to jobs to do. What exactly are your jobs?

“The job as crew chief is exceptionally easy here in the field. Everybody in the group knows what and how they have to do it. This is the result of good preparation and years of working together. At Volkswagen we have a very low turnover of staff, and even with the freelancers. This pays dividends for the complete routine. In the field I drive and organise the start-finish truck, which guarantees the final service on the service route and the first after every stage. In this case you are the one who can still change the smallest details before the stage.”

In your opinion what makes the Volkswagen team into the best team at the 2011 “Dakar”?

“We have the best drivers, the most reliable material and the best group of mechanics. And then they don’t even make a single mistake at the service. I’m bloody proud of the guys who have worked exceptionally well up to now. The work procedures are right, there are no panics. Up to now everything has run just as we imagined.”

Results

Standings after leg 11, Chilecito (RA)–San Juan (RA); 529/693 km SS 11/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 11 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 17m 27s (1); 38h 16m 01s

2 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 22m 19s (3) + 51m 49s

3 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 32m 17s (14) + 1h 27m 27s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 4h 18m 40s (2) + 1h 40m 45s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 4h 30m 44s (4) + 4h 02m 54s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 19m 22s (11) + 4h 42m 38s

7 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 4h 44m 40s (5) + 6h 15m 38s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 4h 53m 00s (7) + 7h 02m 56s

9 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 4h 52m 22s (6) + 8h 00m 52s

10 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 5h 16m 51s (9) + 14h 18m 14s

Wolfsburg (12 January 2011). While Volkswagen factory drivers Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) recorded their first stage win on the tenth of 13 legs, their team mates established themselves clearly at the top of the Dakar Rally leader board. The duo increased their advantage in the overall standings to 12 minutes 37 seconds on the difficult dune filled stage from Copiapó in Chile to Chilecito in Argentina. Last year’s winners Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) follow in second place.

Dramatic scenes unfolded among the notorious white dunes close to Fiambalá: Nasser Al-Attiyah initially led the stage before Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW took control. Then Nasser Al-Attiyah transformed a 2 minute 30 second deficit into a 1 minute 18 second advantage at the highest point of the route in a dune mountain range. However, approaching the end of the stage, between the fifth and sixth way points, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz caught the leader unawares by selecting the cleverest route – and thus took a sensational victory on the day. Dirk von Zitzewitz immediately found the right direction at a junction and did not follow the tracks left by Peterhansel. Nasser Al-Attiyah dropped back to fourth place on the day’s stage losing a total of 8 minutes 54 seconds. As Carlos Sainz even lost 18 minutes 13 seconds on the stage Al-Attiyah was able to extend his overall lead. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) lost 1 hour 4 minutes 18 seconds on the stage, but remains fifth overall.

Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) completes Volkswagen’s one-two-three in the standings behind Al-Attiyah and Sainz.

The tenth stage took competitors from Chile back to Argentina again. In the process the teams scaled the rally’s highest point – the 4,725 metre high Paso San Francisco.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“A very short stage which was incredibly dramatic and very difficult. The navigation was anything but easy and the sand very soft. No driver pair got through today without small mistakes. The Race Touareg 3 has once again mastered the challenging conditions in great style. I’m delighted that Giniel and Dirk won this difficult stage.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 5th place leg / 2nd position overall

“That was an absolutely catastrophic day for us. We got bogged down on a dune after only five kilometres. On top of this came a puncture later. We got lost several times, especially at the end of the stage when we didn’t find the correct exit from a river bed. Furthermore we damaged the gearbox, which also slowed us down. So, all in all it could have been better. But also worse: The deficit in the overall standings is not unassailable. We’ll give our utmost up until the final metre to try and win.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 4th place leg / 1st position overall

“The start of the stage went really well for us. We quickly found our rhythm and rapidly overtook our team mate Carlos Sainz, who had got bogged down on a dune. We drove at a good pace to the end. Unfortunately we didn’t find the right way immediately and looked where all the top teams had looked for the route. Only our team mates Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz were cleverer than everybody else. Congratulations on winning the stage.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 8th place leg / 5th position overall

“A challenging day for man and material. To start we did everything right, my co-driver Ralph Pitchford directed us perfectly to the way points. Unfortunately we emerged over the crest of a dune with too little momentum and got bogged down. All in all it was, however, a really good but tough ‘Dakar’ stage. It could have been quite a bit different today with a little more luck.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 3rd position overall

“Today was our day. I think that I did just as good a job as my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz. However, at the end his stroke of genius made all the difference. It’s fabulous also to finally win a stage in this ‘Dakar’, even though it came a little later than I’d hoped. On the way there were plenty of difficulties to overcome. You had to keep an eye on the engine temperature, every one of the top teams got lost at least once. On top of this sand, sand and more sand which was very soft. The final part was a real labyrinth of washed our river beds and canyons. A lot of teams will still be searching for the right way there today.”

Number of the day

On the section between Copiapó and Chilecito Volkswagen contested its 100th “Dakar” stage since the first prototype’s first event in 2004.

From the Volkswagen bivouac

Sailing ace Russell Coutts visits Volkswagen factory team

High-ranking visit from the high seas: The four-time America’s Cup winner, multiple sailing World Champion and Olympic winner Russell Coutts was shown the Volkswagen bivouac from Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller. In Copiapó in Chile, actual Dakar Rally rest day for the mechanics, the 48-year old New Zealander made a flying visit during the service after the ninth stage.

Local hero and favourite together: Mine worker meets Al-Attiyah

A special moment for both: Volkswagen factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, “Dakar” overall leader, was given a surprise visit in the bivouac after the ninth stage. Luis Urzúa, shift manager for the miners trapped in San José north of Copiapó in autumn 2010, got an impression of the Volkswagen factory team in his hometown Copiapó. Urzúa, the 33rd and last rescued, was impressed. “Just like us miners a team in the ‘Dakar’ also works hand in hand. It’s fantastic to rub shoulders with the team members and see the rally in my hometown,” said the 54-year old. “To be able to meet Nasser Al-Attiyah one of the favourites was incredible.”

Results

Standings after leg 10, Copiapó (RCH)–Chilecito (RA); 176/862 km SS 10/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 10 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 3h 02m 09s (4); 33h 58m 34s

2 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 3h 11m 28s (5) + 12m 37s

3 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 53m 15s (1) + 46m 57s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 2h 58m 53s (3) + 1h 39m 32s

5 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 3h 57m 33s (8) + 3h 40m 43s

6 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 2h 57m 38s (2) + 3h 49m 37s

7 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 3h 24m 06s (6) + 5h 48m 25s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 3h 36m 38s (7) + 6h 27m 23s

9 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 4h 26m 42s (10) + 7h 25m 57s

Wolfsburg (11 January 2011). With their one-two-three stage victory the Volkswagen factory drivers continue to keep the battle at the head of the Dakar Rally field exciting: Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), who hold the overall lead in a Race Touareg 3 after nine stages from Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), staged a no-holds-barred battle for seconds with their Spanish team mates. With his fifth stage victory Sainz moved to within 3 minutes 18 seconds of the leader after losing the top spot yesterday – a tiny value according to “Dakar” standards.

Today’s stage of the Dakar Rally ran around Copiapó. Al-Attiyah, the rally professional form Qatar, initially led. As yesterday’s winner he had to open the stage. Disbelieving faces then after 63 stage kilometres: The favourites passed the second control point with times identical to the second. Thereafter Sainz pulled away and won by 1 minute 56 seconds. A tyre failure later caused Nasser Al-Attiyah to drop back, however the Arab used his skills as dune expert to reduce the gap to Sainz again. As a result the diesel powered Race Touareg has won eight of the nine Dakar Rally stages held so far. Volkswagen has topped the overall standings without interruption since the rally has started.

Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA), who drive two other Race Touareg cars, finished the stage in third and fifth positions respectively. Last year’s winner de Villiers strengthened his third place in the process, while Miller remains fifth in the rally. The day’s fourth fastest time went to Volkswagen’s closest rival: Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW arrived at the finish 11 minutes 14 seconds behind and remains fourth overall.

The ninth stage was reduced from the original 235 kilometres to 207. It nevertheless offered the typical varied “Dakar” terrain: Hard sand and dune sections with camel grass vegetation to begin, stony gravel sections with a dry river bed to cross in the middle sector and more sandy dune crossings to conclude formed the character of this special stage. Lots of knocks and bangs shook the drivers who all emphasised the physical efforts. Original comments from Timo Gottschalk, co-driver of Nasser Al-Attiyah: “Today absolutely everything hurts.”

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“Yesterday’s stage was extremely difficult and many competitors couldn’t cope with it – but all four Race Touareg cars got through it very well just as they managed it again today. Today’s stage was also demanding, even though it was significantly shorter. The last few days have shown the Race Touareg 3 to be the measure of all things as the best and most competitive car. Together with our first rate drivers and co-drivers this is currently the best team in cross country rallying and one of the best teams worldwide. At the moment this team is simply unbeatable.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 2nd position overall

“A short but certainly no easy ‘Dakar’ day. After some kilometres we caught up our team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah who had opened the stage. In a dry river bed we took the opportunity to overtake him. Afterwards we lost contact because it would appear he had a puncture. However, in the dunes he was able to catch up again. He must have been really flying there. Tomorrow we have to open the stage. The dunes of Fiambalá have always played a crucial role over the previous years. We are not so far behind and the tables could turn again.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 1st position overall

“Today we lost about two minutes. This is just the way things run when you have to open the stage. We had no tracks for orientation and so my team mate was able to pass us relatively early. As we were running in his dust cloud we hit a stone and had to change a damaged tyre as a result. In the dunes I was able to close the gap again and crossed the finish line almost at the same time as him. Tomorrow Carlos has the disadvantage of opening the stage. If we can catch up with him we only need to keep him in our sights in order to get back the two minutes again that we’ve lost today. However, this is just theory.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 5th place leg / 5th position overall

“To begin this stage we found a good rhythm and could hold a constant gap to our team mate Giniel de Villiers who had started in front of us. We had to overtake a motorbike rider in an off-road section during the first third of the stage and without any apparent reason got a puncture. Immediately after we were very cautious when crossing a scree field so as not to take any risks. I think this explains the deficit on today’s stage.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 3rd place leg / 3rd position overall

“Today we again made up time on Stéphane Peterhansel in the BMW. This was important. On this short but nevertheless punchy stage it was all about getting through it without mistakes and to look after the material. We managed this. Towards the end we reduced our pace a little because as my neck was painful after we got shaken to bits in the car beforehand. Nothing that our physiotherapist can’t put right, but enough to make us a little more cautious today.”

Number of the day

On the ninth stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally, the loop around Copiapó, the longest jump over a crest by Carlos Sainz was exactly 15.43 metres. The value was logged by the sensors on the Race Touareg 3 suspension, which are extended completely in such a case and therefore indicate a spring travel of zero millimetres to the engineer.

Did you know that…

… the Dakar Rally stops in Copiapó, the scene of one of Chile’s greatest moments when 33 trapped miners were rescued in the middle of October 2010? One of the rescue capsules used successfully to release the miners from a depth of 700 metres formed the centre of the “Dakar” bivouac: The “Fénix 3”.

… the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally is the actual rest day for the mechanics? For the first time the “Dakar” Armada remains in the same location thanks to the start and finish of the start being in Copiapó. The advantage: A service route covering hundreds of kilometres must not be completed. In contrast the so-called rest day three days ago in Arica actually represented the busiest day to date for the service crew.

… Volkswagen transports 350 tyres of the type BFGoodrich “All Terrain” pre-mounted on rims to the Rally Dakar for the four Race Touareg 3 cars entered? From the logistic angle the team is in credit: For stages ten, eleven, twelve and 13 there are still 140 units available.

Results

Standings after leg 09, Copiapó (RCH)–Copiapó (RCH); 207/270 km SS 09/total



Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 09 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 16m 35s (2); 30h 56m 25s

2 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 14m 39s (1) + 3m 18s

3 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 23m 41s (3) + 55m 51s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 2h 25m 53s (4) + 1h 42m 48s

5 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 29m 31s (5) + 2h 45m 19s

6 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 2h 31m 44s (6) + 3h 54m 08s

7 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 2h 51m 34s (10) + 5h 26m 28s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 2h 44m 34s (9) + 5h 52m 54s

9 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 2h 44m 11s (8) + 6h 01m 24s

10 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 2h 52m 44s (11) + 7h 43m 06s

The 2011 Dakar Stage 8 summary video, Antofagasta – Copiapo.

Wolfsburg (10 January 2011). On the most difficult Dakar Rally stage so far the Volkswagen teams guaranteed enormous tension with a change of leadership. As was the case on Friday the four Race Touareg teams took the top four finishing positions on the eighth stage from Antofagasta to Copiapó. In Chile’s most famous town since the mining miracle the Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) duo took their third stage win. On his favourite terrain in deep sand Al-Attiyah replaced last year’s winner Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) at the head of the overall standings. The Arab is now 5 minutes 14 seconds ahead of the Spaniard.

Initially, after winning yesterday and thus having to open today’s stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah was behind Sainz. Only after the tenth of 13 way points did the professional rally driver from Qatar transform a 1 minute 58 second deficit into a 6 minute 36 second advantage. Behind Sainz and Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) ended the day third in front of their Volkswagen team mates Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA). As a result the two duos each moved up a place in the overall standings: De Villiers is third. Miller, who led the stage at the start, is now fifth in the rally.

While Volkswagen recorded the seventh of a possible eight stage victories, its strongest challenger fell even further behind. Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW is 1 hour 33 minutes behind in fourth overall.

At 508 kilometres in length the teams today completed the rally’s longest stage so far. Only the forthcoming stages on 13 and 14 January will be longer. In the first part of the stage the teams had to master many opencast mining access roads and passed the Paranal Observatory – the scene of the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace”. All in all it was a kind of mini “Dakar” in one stage: The stage between Antofagasta and Copiapó provided a huge array of varied terrain. On the one side gravel sections requiring a more respectful approach for the material, and on the other washed out sand sections, dry river beds and canyons, which tested the navigators’ skills. Several dune belts formed the crowning glory on the toughest stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally to date.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“Today was the Volkswagen day! The Race Touareg ran without problems, our drivers and co-drivers worked very well. There has quite possibly never been such a difficult stage as today’s. And here Volkswagen has pulled out such a large margin. It shows how good our car is and just what the occupants achieved in the cockpit. Many thanks to the whole team for this. We move ever closer to our big goal, but the ‘Dakar’ is and remains merciless. We must continue to give our all.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 2nd place leg / 2nd position overall

“Today probably wasn’t our day. We lost the lead after getting bogged down twice in the dunes. For the majority of the time we were close to our team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah. This would have meant that we would have extended our lead by two minutes. Instead it of this we were six minutes slower in the special stage. Of all the places we got stuck in the final dune belt. This means that our role has changed. We are now hunting and no longer the hunted. However, this changes nothing to the approach: We will continue to give our all day by day in order to be right at the front at the finish.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 1st place leg / 1st position overall

“Today I saved my entire energy for the dune sections and concentrated solely on attacking there. We drove for almost the entire distance alongside Carlos Sainz, the lead changed frequently between us. In the final dune section I said to my co-driver Timo Gottschalk: It’s now or never. We extracted the absolute maximum. The target was to reduce the deficit. The result is the overall lead. We must continue to work cleverly to defend this advantage up to the finish.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 4th place leg / 5th position overall

“A really fantastic stage. This is how ‘Dakar’ stages must be: A little bit of everything was in it. Today we had a good day. Just at one point the road book allowed a lot of room for interpretation. My co-driver Ralph Pitchford did everything correct, we were right on target and nevertheless had to search for a long time for a way point. To start the stage we had to change a slow puncture, but this can always happen on such a stage. All in all I enjoyed the day. We’d be happy to see more like this.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 3rd place day / 3rd position overall

“This stage was really tough. Everything was expected today from both the driving and navigational points of view. My navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz did a great job today. We followed the route 100 per cent. Occasionally, however, we didn’t see any tracks from the guys in front of us. They must have been particularly clever today. Because otherwise I just can’t explain my deficit on today’s stage. Although we had a tyre failure it was changed very quickly. To be third overall now is fantastic. The podium is our goal. Nevertheless, I think from day to day. There are still tough stages to come. We can’t afford to make any mistakes here, if we are going to make any more progress towards the front.”

Number of the day

Multi cultural for victory: The “Dakar” factory team is formed from team members representing 15 different nations. In addition to the factory drivers from Spain, Qatar, Germany, the USA and South Africa, technicians and engineers from Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Argentina, Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania, Turkey and Ireland complement the squad. Main language for communication: English.

Three questions to car engineer Gerhard Jan de Jongh

You undertake your first ever Dakar Rally as car engineer for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk. What is so special for you?

“A ‘Dakar’ is so special because you see much more of the country and people than by any other sporting event. There is also the element stamina, which is valid for material as well as for the drivers and especially for the service team. In my opinion this is unique. At no other event in the world is staying power as important as here.”

You are also an experienced WRC engineer? What is the difference between sprint rallies and the “Dakar”?

“There is sufficient room for amateur teams in both the World Rally Championship and in the Dakar Rally. In the ‘Dakar’ they are the heart of the event. In a factory team such as Volkswagen the level of professionalism is just the same as in a WRC factory team. In this respect the two categories are comparable with one another. The differences exist in the working procedures and the intensity. For me the ‘Dakar’ is already at this stage as varied as a complete World Rally Championship season. There are so many different types of terrain, so many sporting ups and downs and thus such different challenges for an engineer as in an entire year in the world championship. Here it is a question of getting everything together for a single good result.”

What is your best “Dakar” experience to date?

“As engineer to Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk I obviously hope that the best experience is still ahead of us! Up to now crossing the Andes was an incredible experience, simply because of the inherent natural beauty. And obviously the enthusiastic fans, particularly in Argentina. I’ve never seen motorsport fans celebrating so enthusiastically and so interested in rallying as here. It affects everybody when you see that the locals are so interested in what you do.”

Results

Standings after leg 08, Antofagasta (RCH)–Copiapó (RCH); 508/776 km SS 08/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 08 Total time

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 16m 30s (1) 28h 39m 50s

2 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 23m 06s (2) + 5m 14s

3 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 33m 52s (3) + 48m 45s

4 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 6h 30m 11s (6) + 1h 33m 30s

5 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 36m 31s (4) + 2h 32m 23s

6 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 7h 27m 52s (11) + 3h 38m 59s

7 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 6h 40m 06s (9) + 4h 48m 55s

8 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 6h 38m 41s (7) + 4h 51m 29s

9 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 6h 39m 39s (8) + 7h 06m 57s

10 Nani Roma/Gilles Picard (E/F); Nissan Navara; 6h 09m 21s (5) + 10h 10m 10s

Wolfsburg (09 January 2011). Volkswagen maintains lead with Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) in the Race Touareg 3 as Dakar Rally enters second half. However, with victory on the day in the seventh stage in Chile their team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) have moved to within 1 minute 22 seconds to the Spaniard in the overall standings. In their battle for the lead the two Race Touareg 3 have moved further ahead of their closest pursuer Stéphane Peterhansel in the X-raid-BMW. The Frenchman is already 21 minutes 11 seconds off the lead.

Al-Attiyah celebrated his second stage victory of the rally ahead of Carlos Sainz on the way to Arica from Antofagasta – for Volkswagen it was already the sixth win on the seven stages to date. In the process Al-Attiyah halved the gap to Sainz. Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) completed the successful day in third 2 minutes 56 seconds behind. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) got lost in the team’s fourth Race Touareg 3 and lost 39 minutes 11 seconds as a result.

The character of today’s stage resembled the recently driven sixth stage; however the teams completed the route in the opposite direction. A serpentine downhill section to conclude the stage proved so narrow that the drivers had to reverse in some of the corners. The accompanying service fleet also mastered a known route in the opposite direction. The sporting events forced the organiser to change the route: Many teams only reached the bivouac extremely late on the rest day due to a difficult stage. To make the start of the second rally week easier for them, those responsible shortened the original 611 kilometre long seventh stage to 273 kilometres. As a result, the teams already reached the stage finish close to the Rio Loa with its view across the Pacific. It is the only river with its source in the Andes and which does not completely evaporate in the Atacama Desert as it meanders to the sea.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“That was a fantastic day for three of our cars. The one-two-three shows just how well the team worked on the rest day. I’m delighted with the start of the second half of the rally. We also managed to increase the cushion to Stéphane Peterhansel. Nevertheless the same still applies: We must first beat the Dakar Rally and its conditions and secondly continue to keep Stéphane Peterhansel at arm’s length.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 2nd place leg / 1st position overall

“It wasn’t easy to open the stage today because the navigation was so demanding. My co-driver Lucas did a fantastic job as we could very easily have lost more than two minutes today. This wasn’t the case – which is why I more than happy with the result. Tomorrow it’s the other way around: My team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah must open the stage and we can tag along behind.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 1st place leg / 2nd position overall

“Reduce the gap a little every day – this is exactly how we expected it to be. Today we had the advantage of being able to follow my team mate Carlos Sainz. We benefited from this up until the moment we caught him up. Afterwards we were stuck in his dust cloud. A long stage awaits us tomorrow. We’ll see what’s possible there. Whatever the case we’ll do everything to reduce the gap even further.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 12th place leg / 6th position overall

“Today wasn’t our day. We got a puncture to start the day. After changing the tyre we quickly found our rhythm. From then on things actually ran very well – up to the point where we reached a confusing point in the road book. We searched for a long time for the way point that would have led us into the correct valley. To find the right way again we just needed too much time.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 3rd place leg / 4th position overall

“A short but nevertheless varied ‘Dakar’ stage. It was very similar to the stage before the rest day, but wasn’t quite as hard as expected. The navigation today was particularly difficult in the dunes. But I think that today both my co-driver and I made almost no mistakes. We lost a little time again to our team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz who are absolutely flying at the front. We made up ground on Stéphane Peterhansel in the BMW though. The next few days will be tough. We aim to make up time again then.”

Number of the day

The Volkswagen Motorsport team doctor carries 143 different medicines with him for medical emergencies and for treating typical small “Dakar” wounds: Ointments, pills, medicine for intravenous administration and drops.

From the Volkswagen bivouac

Head of State visits Volkswagen team

During the Dakar Rally rest day Chilean State President Sebastián Piñera toured the bivouac and also visited the Volkswagen team. Factory driver Carlos Sainz and his team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah took time in Arica to explain the elaborate technology found in the 228 kW/310 hp Race Touareg with TDI power and Volkswagen’s “Dakar” appearance to the President.

Family trip in the desert – Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx and daughter Vanina at the Rally Dakar

Jacky Ickx, six-time Le Mans winner and 1983 Dakar Rally victor followed the Dakar Rally in a Volkswagen Amarok. He reports about the desert classic for Eurosport. His daughter Vanina Ickx, who scored a class victory in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in 2010 in a Volkswagen Scirocco GT24-CNG together with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Klaus Niedzwiedz and Dieter Depping, also visited two of her long-distance team mates in the desert.

Results

Standings after leg 07, Arica (RCH)–Antofagasta (RCH); 273/819 km SS 07/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 07 Total time

1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 42m 17s (2); 23h 21m 58s

2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 40m 57s (1) + 1m 22s

3 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 2h 48m 37s (4) + 21m 11s

4 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 2h 43m 53s (3) + 32m 45s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 2h 57m 57s (5) + 1h 28m 59s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 3h 20m 08s (12) + 2h 13m 44s

7 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 3h 03m 11s (8) + 2h 38m 50s

8 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 3h 01m 04s (6) + 3h 26m 41s

9 Ricardo Leal dos Santos/Paulo Fiuza (P/P); BMW X3 CC; 3h 01m 45s (7) + 3h 30m 40s

10 Matthias Kahle/Thomas Schünemann (D/D); Buggy SMG; 3h 27m 23s (13) + 5h 45m 10s

Wolfsburg (08 January 2011). The Volkswagen drivers went into the rest day of this year’s Dakar Rally with a 1-2-3-4 win. After the victories in the first week the score in the duel with the X-raid BMW team is now 5-1 to Volkswagen. After six legs through Argentina and Chile Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) are leading by 2m 42s in front of their team colleagues Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D). After 1,925 of the 5,020 kilometres against the clock Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F/F) in the X-raid BMW are Volkswagen’s fiercest rivals. Their gap amounts to 14m 51s – a time as short as the blink of an eye at the Dakar Rally. Four out of six possible stage wins so far went to Sainz/Cruz and one each to Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk and Peterhansel/Cottret. The leading trio is followed within a striking distance by two other Volkswagen factory duos: Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) in fourth and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in sixth place overall.

Yet the rest day of the “Dakar” is anything but a day for lazing around. The mechanics intensively prepare the vehicles for the second week of the “Dakar”. After the joint press conference the drivers, co-drivers and team management will present the Volkswagen bivouac to Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera and subsequently be available to the media for interviews.

The first rally week offered the “Dakar” participants the variety which is typical for South America. The terrain changed several times a day between gravel passages, scree fields, solid clay soil, jungle sections and soft dune sand. On the sixth leg the Volkswagen drivers definitely earned their day of rest, which gives them the first chance to recuperate since the rally started on New Year’s Day in Buenos Aires. Plenty of the powder-like sand that is called “guadal” in the national language (and is similar to Africa’s fesh fesh) made this leg a particularly gruelling endeavour for “man and material”. The Volkswagen duos finished this stage with a 1-2-3-4 victory.

The second half of the Dakar Rally will start on Sunday and Monday like a thunderbolt. A total of 611 timed kilometres on the seventh and 508 on the eighth leg are on the agenda. The tasks are as varied as they were in the first part of the “Dakar”. Gravel, solid ground and lots of sand make sure that the participants will not suffer from boredom. The Dakar Rally ends on 15 January after the second crossing of the Andes and after thirteen legs when the teams arrive at the finish in Buenos Aires.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“On the rest day we can look back on six exciting ‘Dakar’ days that were successful for Volkswagen. The pace and the challenge are even higher than they were last year. Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret are doing a great job in the X-raid BMW, and our Volkswagen duos Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz plus Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk an even better one. We worked hard and delivered a strong team performance to clinch the one-two lead. The whole squad is doing an impeccable job. I’m proud of this. In total we’ve got four cars among the top six, which means we’re in a good position for the second week of the rally. But we also know that we’ve achieved a lot but haven’t won anything yet.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place overall

“On the whole, the first rally week went very well for us. Despite some rough stages the Race Touareg 3 ran without the slightest technical problems. We had the honour of being the stage winners a total of three times and the handicap of having to open the stage. My co-driver Lucas Cruz did a great job. Now, on the rest day, we’ve got to perfectly prepare for the second week. I know that I can rely on the work of my mechanics one hundred per cent. This gives me the backing for a tough second week.”

#300 – Lucas Cruz (E), co-driver

“We’ve just finished a little less than 2,000 of the more than 5,000 kilometres of special stages. They were tough but next week the ‘Dakar’ will probably be showing its true face on even more occasions. I’m expecting many more sandy passages which don’t make the work for the drivers and co-drivers any easier. We’ll use the rest day to prepare as well as we can. The pace at the front is high – any mistake could mix up the order of the standings. The race continues to be thrilling.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place overall

“The situation with respect to the overall standings is no less exciting than it was last year. Quite the opposite is true. The battle between two has turned into a battle between three contenders. My team colleague Carlos Sainz and I enlarged our gap a bit. But these gaps are extremely small for a Dakar Rally. We’ve got to continue to stay concentrated and attack at the right moment. I’m really looking forward to the second ‘Dakar’ week.”

#302 – Timo Gottschalk (D), co-driver

“The first week passed quickly and I’ve got to admit that I’m a little relieved that it has. The battle at the front of the field is extremely fierce. Running at the necessary pace with a calculated risk isn’t easy. The second week is equally interesting. Now the days are coming up on which we’ll need to work out an advantage if we want to win the rally. Even though we’ve already got one week in our bones we need to maintain the energy and concentration that are needed to achieve our goal.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 6th place overall

“A less-than-perfect day that threw us out of contention for overall victory. That’s our story at the Dakar Rally. Since then our task has changed. We want to help our team-mates as best we can to clinch the third ‘Dakar’ victory in a row. We need to stay close to the blue cars in front. The past few days have shown that we’ve got the right pace to do so. The day before today’s rest day revealed that the time we set – down to nearly a second – was about the same as that of our team colleague Giniel de Villiers. I think taking this approach is exactly what’s expected of us.””

#304 – Ralph Pitchford (ZA), co-driver

“The first week was extremely varied and I really enjoyed the third special stage in particular. Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve the results we’d imagined. But I think that the toughest job is still ahead of us. The first two legs after the rest day are real humdingers. I’m looking forward to these tasks and another ‘Dakar’ week.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 4th place overall

“Actually, the first part of the Dakar Rally was going pretty well for us, even though I’d have wished to have been closer to the front-running duos. But my team colleagues Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah are running at a fast pace. Right at the beginning we lost the time on the first two stages that we’re now lacking. But our performance on the three days before the rest day was good. We’ve still got more of a distance ahead of than behind us. We won’t give up until the very end. That’s why I’m looking forward to the upcoming seven legs.”

#308 – Dirk von Zitzewitz (D), co-driver

“The first week of the Dakar Rally was a far cry from what Giniel de Villiers and I expected. On the first WRC-like stages we lost a lot of time and on the off-road sections we didn’t do as well as we could have either. Our aim is clear: We want to attack again in the second half of the rally. Anything’s still possible.”

Number of the day

More than once around the globe: If the impellers of the turbocharger compressors in Carlos Sainz’ Race Touareg 3 were made to revolve as many times as they have on the special stages up to the rest day, the total number of revolutions would amount to a distance of 53,668 kilometres. This equates to about 1.34 times the circumference of the earth.

Results

Interim standings after 06 of 13 legs

Pos. Team Vehicle Total time

1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 53m 53s (1); 20h 39m 41s

2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 54m 02s (2) + 2m 42s

3 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 5h 06m 18s (5) + 14m 51s

4 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 03m 42s (3) + 31m 09s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 5h 19m 19s (6) + 1h 13m 19s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 03m 43s (4) + 1h 35m 53s

7 Orlando Terranova/Filipe Palmeiro (ARG/P); BMW X3 CC; 5h 32m 48s (8) + 1h 37m 54s

8 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 5h 38m 15s (9) + 2h 17m 56s

9 Guerlain Chicherit/Michel Périn (F/F); Mini Countryman; 5h 22m 27s (7) + 2h 45m 25s

10 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 5h 47m 23s (11) + 3h 07m 54s

Wolfsburg (07 January 2011). With a 1-2-3-4 stage win on the sixth leg Volkswagen bids farewell to the first half of the Dakar Rally for the well-deserved rest day on Saturday. At the mid-point of the world’s toughest rally the Wolfsburg-based squad maintains the top two positions overall with the Race Touareg 3.

But the competition is staying on the heels of the two leading Volkswagen factory drivers, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) and Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), because a battle between three rivals again dominated the action at the front of the field. X-raid BMW driver Stéphane Peterhansel had been leading part of the sixth leg from Iquique to Arica before dropping back due to punctures. The two quickest Volkswagen duos subsequently fought a fair duel on the 456-kilometre stage, which has been the second-longest one so far. Like yesterday, the decision was only made on the final kilometres of the special in the barren Atacama Desert in which so-called fesh fesh – a powder-like sand that makes up the ground – made the conditions considerably more difficult.

After Peterhansel’s time loss Sainz took the lead. But then Al-Attiyah on the final 100 kilometres temporarily converted a gap of 1m 27s into a 14-second advantage. Yet in the end Sainz secured his fifth stage win with the Race Touareg. After 4h 53m of driving time the Spaniard reached the finish a mere nine seconds in front of his team-mate Al-Attiyah who thus again bumped Stéphane Peterhansel from second place overall.

Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) finished the stage in third place. The 2009 “Dakar” winners continue to rank in fourth place overall. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) completed the 1-2-3-4 stage result of the TDI-powered Race Touareg, moving up to sixth place in the overall standings.

Quotes

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

“The 1-2-3-4 stage win is a fantastic result. The entire Volkswagen squad did everything right today. I want to express my sincere thanks to all of them. Now the team would have deserved a break. But like every year there will be a lot of work to do on the upcoming rest day. During this important service the cars will be prepared for the second half of the rally with new parts. To be in front in the end we first have to defeat the ‘Dakar’ and then our rivals.”

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 1st place overall

“What a tough day. Today the fesh fesh was the dominant soil. But like all the previous ‘Dakar’ legs this stage offered plenty of variety. On a stony section I had to stop to change a tyre. I had closed the gap to my team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah who had started in front of me. But in his dust I failed to notice a hidden stone. Apart from this minor misfortune it was a really good day for my co-driver Lucas Cruz and me.”

#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall

“It’s incredible how close the race was again today. My team colleague Carlos Sainz won the stage in front of us with a razor-thin margin. So for Volkswagen it was more than a good day. We drove with a little more caution on the stony sections to avoid the risk of a puncture. That paid off. As it looks, Carlos and I are battling for victory at the moment. But you can never be sure at the ‘Dakar’. In any case, in second place we’ll have a good position for the day after the rest day to attack and to hopefully manage a good start into the second rally week.”

#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 4th place leg / 6th place overall

“Fesh fesh, all over the place we saw fesh fesh. Today was extremely strenuous and we’ve earned tomorrow’s rest day through another day of hard work. On the many blind hilltops we didn’t want to risk as much as the top three duos did. That’s where we lost a bit of time. Then, towards the end of the leg, we suffered a slow puncture. All in all, I’m glad that this extremely demanding leg is over now, and look forward to the second ‘Dakar’ week.”

#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 3rd place leg / 4th place overall

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much powder-like sand on a single leg as I did today. I think we had a good pace although I didn’t tackle the blind hilltops as boldly as some of the teams who started in front of us. At one of the dune crossings we had to make an evasive manoeuvre. We came out a little too far on the left and it took some doing there to find the route again. Then, on a stony section at the end of the stage, we suffered two punctures within five kilometres. That was unfortunate – but on the whole I’m pleased with our performance.”

Number of the day

With the Race Touareg vehicles of Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and company Volkswagen, before the rest day, continues to have all four cars in the race that were entered. Before reaching Buenos Aires they could be logging about 20,000 additional kilometres of special stages. Since 2004 all Race Touareg cars combined have completed325,537.5 kilometres of special stages, and 111,147 of them at the Dakar Rally. The addition of the total times of all finishes reveals that the drivers and co-drivers of the Wolfsburg-based brand were out for 86 days, one hour, 14 minutes and twelve seconds, not counting the times of the current “Dakar”.

Did you know that …

… in the Race Touareg 3 a total of 14 fans, of which 13 are electrically and one hydraulically operated, are used? They assure the required air flow for the intercooler, the radiator, the driver and co-driver plus the gearbox and the windscreen, among other things.

… the drivers and co-drivers receive beverages specifically mixed for them every day? The liquid energy sources contain minerals, electrolytes and trace elements. Aromas are added for flavour. The preferred choices of the Volkswagen drivers: citrus and blood orange flavours.

… that Volkswagen has even made provisions for servicing the support vehicles at the Dakar Rally? In addition to the factory team, which also travels in the PanAmericana Multivan, the organiser A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation) has opted for the Volkswagen Amarok as the official vehicle. In total, 66 vehicles of the Wolfsburg-based brand have been deployed. To assist in case of emergencies, a truck with spare parts and a small service crew is part of the convoy that travels from bivouac to bivouac.

Results

Standings after leg 06, Iquique (RCH)–Arica (RCH); 456/721 km SS 06/total

Pos. Team Vehicle Leg 06 Total time

1 Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 53m 53s (1); 20h 39m 41s

2 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 4h 54m 02s (2) + 2m 42s

3 Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F); BMW X3 CC; 5h 06m 18s (5) + 14m 51s

4 Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 03m 42s (3) + 31m 09s

5 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (PL/B); BMW X3 CC; 5h 19m 19s (6) + 1h 13m 19s

6 Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA); Volkswagen Race Touareg 3; 5h 03m 43s (4) + 1h 35m 53s

7 Orlando Terranova/Filipe Palmeiro (ARG/P); BMW X3 CC; 5h 32m 48s (8) + 1h 37m 54s

8 Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad (BR/BR); Mitsubishi Racing Lancer; 5h 38m 15s (9) + 2h 17m 56s

9 Guerlain Chicherit/Michel Périn (F/F); Mini Countryman; 5h 22m 27s (7) + 2h 45m 25s

10 Christian Lavieille/Jean-Michel Polato (F/F); Nissan Proto; 5h 47m 23s (11) + 3h 07m 54s

All preparations completed motivation high: Volkswagen starts the 2011 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile on New Year’s Day with four Race Touareg. The entire team’s clear goal: To follow the victories from 2009 and 2010 with another. At technical scrutineering the previous day the four new Race Touareg 3 received official start permission from the organiser A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation). The “Dakar” begins on 1 January with the ceremonial start and the opening liaison stage from Buenos Aires to Victoria. With which expectations, goals and strategies the Volkswagen teams approach the desert classic? The comments before the start.
 

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
“We approach the Dakar Rally with the very clear goal of taking the third consecutive Volkswagen victory. However, the ‘Dakar’ is exactly a motorsport legend because it’s the greatest challenge in motorsport and always holds surprises in store. You can’t force luck here and must always plan for the unexpected. It’s very clear you must first beat the rally itself to be able to win. On top of this come extremely strong opponents such as X-raid-BMW and well prepared privateers like Robby Gordon in the Hummer or the privately entered Nissan. Everybody in the Volkswagen team is highly motivated to give everything for the hat-trick. I’m confident that we can achieve our main goal thanks to a fantastic team and excellent drivers and co-drivers.”
 
#300 – Carlos Sainz (E)
“To start the Dakar Rally as defending champion changes one thing above all else: You can go a little more relaxed to the start, since we achieved the big goal of winning the ‘Dakar’ once already last year. Our approach is, however, identical to 2010: I will follow the same strategy and maintain the respect like then for this extremely challenging rally. I will drive the pace that suits me. It remains to be seen whether it’s sufficient for another win and if we have the luck required. The competition is very tough again this year.”
 
#300 – Lucas Cruz (E), co-driver
“I feel less pressure this year after we won the ‘Dakar’ in 2010. This year Carlos Sainz and I can concentrate entirely on our own pace and approach every single stage with joy. To win again will be anything but easy because we have strong team mates and strong opponents from other teams. First and foremost, however, you must survive this tough, 15-day long marathon without making mistakes.”
 
#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q)
“The team and I have never been so well prepared entering the Dakar Rally. I have a good feeling that Volkswagen will also fight for overall victory again in 2011. My co-driver Timo Gottschalk and I will do everything to contribute to this. Obviously it’s my target to win the ‘Dakar’. As far as tactics are concerned it won’t be easy to attack at the right time to open an advantage.”
 
#302 – Timo Gottschalk (D), co-driver
“Narrowly beaten last year by team mates – this year to win narrowly or even by a slightly larger margin. This is certainly the goal of Nasser Al-Attiyah and I. We came here to win. It won’t be a walk in the park, because in addition to the strong competition from within our own team, we can’t afford to forget X-raid-BMW and many strong privateers. Furthermore the organisers have tightened the rules for navigation. So, this year the co-driver is more important than ever before. It will be a tough ‘Dakar’, but also certainly a very good one.”
 
#304 – Mark Miller (USA)
“After two podium finishes in 2009 and 2010, this is obviously also my personal goal for 2011. Even more so, however, to stand on the top step. The speed was there in the previous years, however, sometimes luck was a little lacking in places and we made the wrong decision with the navigation or when reading the dunes. Rather than lose several minutes due to mistakes my co-driver Ralph Pitchford and I intend to take a few more seconds to make decisions in tricky navigational situations in spite of the intensive competitive atmosphere. This should make all the difference in 2011.”
 
#304 – Ralph Pitchford (ZA), co-driver
“Mark Miller and I have prepared even more thoroughly for the Dakar Rally than in previous years when we clinched a podium position on each occasion. Mark has worked even harder on his fitness, the same goes for me. Also we have thought a great deal about communication in the car. Hopefully this will pay off since navigation this year is even harder thanks to the new rules. The challenge is to keep calm whatever the situation.”
 
#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA)
“In 2009 my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz and I were able to enjoy the sweet taste of a ‘Dakar’ victory; in contrast the 2010 rally didn’t go so well. You can’t plan such a tough cross country rally and force success. Our goal is to drive at our pace and give everything to win. We know just as well that it’s not over till it’s over. We’ve prepared well and completed between 5,000 and 6,000 test kilometres. The new car is a big step forward. For this reason alone I’m looking forward to the ‘Dakar’ and am sure that we’ll right at the front with the Race Touareg 3.”
 
#308 – Dirk von Zitzewitz (D), co-driver
“Anything can happen during the Dakar Rally. Nevertheless, you tend to shut this out and to approach it with the expectations too high. Giniel de Villiers and I don’t want to make this mistake. We’ll attack the 2011 ‘Dakar’ from day to day with renewed vigour, do our best on every stage and wait to see which result comes out at the finish. But if we do it like we know we can then it should be a good result.”

The countdown has started: The Volkswagen team’s preparations for the almost 9,600 kilometre desert classic in Argentina and Chile are in full swing just two days before the Dakar Rally starts. While the entire crew put the four works entered and prepared Race Touareg 3 through their paces a final time at the roll-out before the “Dakar” starts on New Year’s Day, the navigators take a last opportunity to study the maps.

The systems ‘go’: the four Race Touareg 3 are “Dakar” ready

At the gates of the Argentina capital Buenos Aires the four Race Touareg 3 crews tuned themselves to the “Dakar” in a final test run. Along a near ten kilometre long loop on closed-off minor country roads Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) put the powerful 310 hp cross country rally prototypes to the test for a final time. The four crews each completed about ten trouble free laps. “The roll-out was enormously important to get the feel for the car again just before the ‘Dakar’ starts,” says Mark Miller, who celebrated a podium finish after finishing second and third in 2009 and 2010 respectively with Volkswagen. “We are ready and our Touareg is as well.”

Navigation: Depth of information increases, the nights get shorter

The co-drivers are faced with plenty of new things with regard to navigation during the 2011 Dakar Rally: new rules and, compared to previous years, less concrete information beforehand. The closer the Dakar Rally comes, the more the information increases about the forthcoming special stages. “In contrast to previous years the organiser has released hardly any information about the stage lengths,” says Lucas Cruz, co-driver with Carlos Sainz, who starts the “Dakar” as defending champion. “We only receive the detailed information on 31 December at technical scrutineering.”

The Volkswagen navigators derive the possible route from the exact length of each liaison and special stage as well as information concerning the predicted average speed. For this purpose publically accessible tools like maps or digital computer models such as Google Earth are consulted. “If we know the lengths and average speeds we can find out more precisely what sort of terrain awaits us.” Close and detailed inspection of the maps begins with the information being released on 31 December – and the nights for the navigators get longer in view of the workload just immediately before the actual start of the Dakar Rally. “The bulk of the work awaits us, however, in the night before the next stage when we receive the roadbook,” says Cruz.

Facebook, Twitter and Co: Throughout the Dakar Rally Volkswagen is also active in the so-called Web 2.0.

During the world’s toughest rally, which runs between the 1 and 15 January from Buenos Aires through Argentina across the Andes and back, a unique Volkswagen Motorsport fan page on Facebook delivers exclusive looks behind the scenes. Just how does the daily “Dakar” routine look from outside the cockpit of Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and Co? Which stories and anecdotes happen around the four Race Touareg 3 fielded in the event? How does the physical exertion of the Volkswagen Service Crew look on the more than two-week loop through South America? www.facebook.com/volkswagenmotorsport supplies the answers to these and other questions.

Daily video summaries from events on the stages can be viewed on a Volkswagen Youtube channel. The three minute highlights of the day are available on www.youtube.com/user/myvolkswagen immediately after the day’s respective stage.

In addition to the Volkswagen Motorsport team the drivers and co-drivers also offer their own contributions via Web 2.0 service Twitter. For example, Dirk von Zitzewitz gives an insight into the daily “Dakar” routine of a co-driver at www.twitter.com/rallyedakar . The 2009 Dakar Rally winner posts a comprehensive blog at www.zitzewitz.com/dakar . Mark Miller provides a driver’s eye view Tweet. The US American reports daily at www.twitter.com/MarkMillerDakar .

Links to the individual contributions in Web 2.0 can be found on the public Volkswagen Motorsport website – as well as various other information about the Wolfsburg based squad’s “Dakar” event. During the Dakar Rally text, photo, audio and video contributions as well as useful background information are available at www.volkswagen-motorsport.com .

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk – one of four Volkswagen pairs with overall victory in the 2011 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile firmly in its sights. The Qatari and his German navigator form a successful team since 2009. In the previous Dakar Rally as second overall they were narrowly beaten by their Volkswagen team mates Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) in the closest “Dakar” finish ever. If things go to plan between 1 and 15 January Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk aim to take revenge. In the 33rd running of the desert classic Nasser Al-Attiyah sees the ninth part as key stage.

“By all accounts the loop around Copiapó in Chile will be one of the hardest during the entire rally with lots of soft sand,” says the 40-year old. “Just crossing the dunes should be particularly difficult to master. Our prospects look good here, because over the previous years I’ve acquired my own technique to start climbing the dunes. Just how it exactly looks should remain my trade secret.” The desert and dune experts will indeed have a day to suit their tastes on the Dakar Rally’s ninth stage starting and finishing in the mining town of Copiapó. Despite the stage being only 235 kilometres against the clock the route is tricky due to the mighty dunes of brown-red and anthracite coloured sand and their deep valleys. Driver errors here can lead to enormous time losses. Most important discipline: the so-called reading the dunes.

While the drivers and co-drivers prepare themselves for physical torture in the Atacama Desert, the mechanics enjoy the only day on which they have no service route to complete. “It’s important that the guys can rest and relax once,” says Al-Attiyah. “They are enormously important during a rally like the ‘Dakar’. To have fresh and relaxed mechanics is a success factor. In contrast the ninth stage for us doesn’t make a big different to those before – we have to be ready for varied terrain consisting of stony and more specifically sandy sections. I think my experience on gravel from sprint rallies will be of benefit.”

To prepare for the Dakar Rally Nasser Al-Attiyah maintains a special ritual each year. Immediately before the tough two-week test he spends several days alone in the Qatar desert. “It helps me to relax and to clear my head,” says Al-Attiyah. “This year I spent four days in the desert as part of my metal preparation. One thing is clear: I’m ready for the Dakar Rally to start.”

Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year. No sooner are they over and the Dakar Rally starts. Volkswagen confronts the legendary marathon from 1 to 15 January 2011 with four Race Touareg. Reliability, staying power and performance are the essentials on the 15 stages over almost 9,000 kilometres through Argentina and Chile. The 310 hp Race Touareg underwent detailed optimization to successfully master the greatest challenge by far that worldwide motorsport has to offer – and also the four driver pairings have prepared themselves for months for the two-week hunt through the Atacama Desert, the majestic Andes and the Pampa: Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) aim to bring the coveted Dakar trophy to Wolfsburg for the third time in succession.

“A further developed and even stronger Race Touareg, four proven duos – our goal for the 2011 Dakar Rally is very clear, to add another victory to those from 2009 and 2010,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “We left nothing to chance on the way to the ‘Dakar’ and have prepared ourselves meticulously down to the smallest detail. We are also well aware that we will have to fend off strong opponents. In addition to the X-raid-BMW team and Robbie Gordon’s Hummer it will be more specifically one thing and one thing alone: the Dakar Rally itself. We approach the challenge with the greatest respect.”

Stronger than ever before: the third generation Race Touareg

One-two in 2009, podium lockout in 2010: the Race Touareg 2 is easily the most successful diesel car in “Dakar” history. For the 33rd running of the desert classic Volkswagen sends four newly developed Race Touareg 3. Revolutionary shell, evolutionary core – the metamorphosis to “RT3” followed a clear development target: to be as radical as necessary yet as conservative as possible. The result: completely reworked aerodynamics with a fundamentally optimised cooling concept as well as detail developments of the transmission and suspension components building on the successful basis of the predecessor.

The new air flow around the “RT3” ensures that the ram air is channelled more effectively under the mere 50 kilogram carbon body. A larger dimensioned water cooler is also used. The increase in cooling potential is clearly apparent thanks to the resulting plus in power where power is required off-road: On particularly slow desert sections comprised of soft sand. Also the proven 2.5 litre TDI engine, improved in detail for 2011, produces more power in its current form. The compression ignition power plant produces 310 hp (228 kW) thanks to a new, more efficient intercooler system. A reworked gearbox improves drivability of the Race Touareg 3 on different types of terrain.

“The Race Touareg has been an extremely reliable and steadfast car for years,” says last year’s winner Carlos Sainz, who starts in 2011 as defending “Dakar” title holder together with his fellow Spaniard Lucas Cruz in the Race Touareg 3 with start number 300. “I know that I rely on him and also the 72 Volkswagen team members who service the ‘RT3’ every day. This was the key to my first ‘Dakar’ victory in 2010. Reliability is our great strength again in 2011. I will also do my utmost to successfully defend my title.”

Experienced and hungry for success: the Volkswagen duos at the “Dakar” 2011

“Dakar” winner and “Dakar” runner-up: Success achieved in the Race Touareg – every single Volkswagen pair can lay claim to both a successful past and also vast experience in the world’s toughest rally. “The world’s best cross country rally drivers probably compete for Volkswagen,” says Nasser Al-Attiyah who, together with co-driver Timo Gottschalk, finished second behind Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz in January 2010. It was the closest finish in “Dakar” history. “If you want to win the ‘Dakar’ you must first beat your own team mates. I think Volkswagen has the most well balanced driver line-up among the teams. After our narrow defeat last year Timo and I want to prove that we are winners.”

In 2010 Sainz/Cruz and Al-Attiyah/Gottschalk clinched first and second places in the Dakar Rally in a thrilling showdown, in 2009 the other two Volkswagen duos who contest the 2011 “Dakar” fought among themselves for victory: Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz as well as Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford. Having racked up 14 cross-country rallies together De Villiers/von Zitzewitz is the most established duo in the Volkswagen ranks, Miller/Pitchford are credited with nine rallies.

The “Dakar” respects its principles: even more challenges for the teams

The Dakar Rally also remains loyal to its principles for the 33rd running: “Expect the unexpected” and “the next Dakar is always the hardest” are the basic principles of the desert classic. In 2011, following the fast gravel sections in north-west Argentina participants must also tackle the crossing of tropical forests. After overcoming the Andes via the 4,400 metre high ‘Paso de Jama’, six stages alone follow in the Atacama Desert – the heart of the 2011 “Dakar”: Soft sand, gravel sections and salt formations form the daily changing and varied mix of terrain in the far north of Chile. However, even after the second Andes crossing along the Paso San Francisco resting 4,748 metres above sea level the worst is still far from over. The infamous white dunes of Fiambalá pose the opening to a final trilogy of partially fast, twisting sections.

“The ‘Dakar’ provides a huge array of completely different types of terrain, frequently on just a single rally day,” says Mark Miller, second in the 2009 “Dakar” and third overall in 2010 with co-driver Ralph Pitchford. “From crossing dunes to gravel tracks, from trial like terrain to full throttle stretches – real all-round qualities are required here. This suits me actually.”

Healthy body, alert mind: ideal preparation for two “Dakar” weeks

“Mens sana in corpore sano” – a healthy mind in a healthy body says a Latin proverb. This is valid in a unique way for the Volkswagen “Dakar” drivers and co-drivers. Their preparations for the desert classic included, in addition to personal fitness programmes supported by common training among the peaks of the Swiss Alps, also mechanical training. The crews learned to help themselves in the event of emergency on the new Race Touareg 3 – basic knowledge for small repairs.

“Physical fitness for the driver is the name of the game for the Dakar Rally,” says Giniel de Villiers, who claimed in 2009 the first “Dakar” victory for a diesel powered car with his German navigator Dirk Von Zitzewitz. “Only those who are in the best physical condition can survive these two weeks and drive at the highest level.”

Blue angels – the mobile Volkswagen service point on tour in South America

The Volkswagen factory team’s service vehicles complete a marathon in parallel to the marathon. During the day the 20 vehicles, from service and equipment truck to Volkswagen Multivan PanAmericana, cover a distance averaging over 500 kilometres, in the evenings the engineers and technicians service the four Race Touareg 3. For this purpose two trucks have a unique task: The race trucks compete, like the Race Touareg 3, in the rally competition and thus complete the same route like the “Dakar” prototypes. In this way they can intervene in the event of an emergency if a Race Touareg needs help. Thanks to their presence Volkswagen can claim a proud record: The last technical related retirement for a Race Touareg dates back to January 2007.
2011 Dakar Rally route
Date, Stage, Start – Finish, Stage, Liaison, Total
01.01.2011, Buenos Aires (RA)–Victoria, show start, 377 km, 377 km
02.01.2011, 01, Victoria (RA)–Córdoba (RA), 222 km, 566 km, 788 km
03.01.2011, 02, Córdoba (RA)–San Miguel (RA), 324 km, 440 km, 764 km
04.01.2011, 03, San Miguel (RA)–San Salvador (RA), * 500 km, 231 km, 731 km
05.01.2011, 04, San Salvador (RA)–Calama (RCH), 207 km, 554 km, 761 km
06.01.2011, 05, Calama (RCH)–Iquique (RCH), 423 km, 36 km, 459 km
07.01.2011, 06, Iquique (RCH)–Arica (RCH), 456 km, 265 km, 721 km
08.01.2011, Arica (RCH), rest day
09.01.2011, 07, Arica (RCH)–Antofagasta (RCH), 611 km, 208 km, 819 km
10.01.2011, 08, Antofagasta (RCH)–Copiapó (RCH), 508 km, 268 km, 776 km
11.01.2011, 09, Copiapó (RCH)–Copiapó (RCH), 235 km, 35 km, 270 km
12.01.2011, 10, Copiapó (RCH)–Chilecito (RA), 176 km, 686 km, 862 km
13.01.2011, 11, Chilecito (RA)–San Juan (RA), * 622 km, 164 km, 786 km
14.01.2011, 12, San Juan (RA)–Córdoba (RA), 555 km, 123 km, 678 km
15.01.2011, 13, Córdoba (RA)–Buenos Aires (RA), 181 km, 645 km, 826 km
16.01.2011, Buenos Aires (RA), award ceremony

Total, 5,020 km, 4,598 km, 9,618 km
* Two-part stage