DAKAR

[Mark_Miller]

I've had a lot of emails on how to follow the race. Dakar.com will have most up to date results and of course will be focused on the leaders, toyota-trophy.com will have a site dedicated to me and will have some pictures and interviews on all the Toyota trophy teams everyday, markmillerracing.com will(I hope) have an audio interview of me and Dirk von Zitzewitz after each stage. The truck I am driving will not be in contention for the overall, sorry, but hopefully we can beat all the other Toyotas, Thanks MM

 

[TimHayosh]

Mark, best of luck on this epic event.
I, for one, will be following your progress from my desk top; and hopefully, Speedvision.

Bon Voyage.

 

[Vtr_Racing]

Good Luck in The Paris to Dakar. Make us USA folks proud. Will be keeping track here at home....

Speed Safely

 

[Kritter]

Speed vision right now has some footage.

"Revenge is best served cold"

 

[Tom_Willis]

Mark & crew, Good luck to you guys. After the incredible comeback in the Baja 2000, it would seem like this is the driver to watch. (for those who don't remember, the 2nd Vortec trophy truck at the Baja 2000 race went off course in the beginning, and dropped from 3rd on the road to 182nd.... Dead last.... Then, after waiting 90 minutes for the course to clear, they got back on the road, and passed EVERY one of the 179 entries that had passed them). They finished in third place overall. They didn't get anywhere near the recognition they deserved, after accomplishing something that has never been done before. It would be the equivalent of starting on the front row of the Indy 500, parking the car for 10 minutes, then passing the entire field several times...... MAKE US PROUD!

 

[rdc]

After finishing 5 stages Mark is 52nd Overall(coming from 77th)so he is moving up,he had a strong 4th stage finishing 9th OA.
It's MILLER TIME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O==^=o>

 

[TimHayosh]

They are still reporting the 6th stage as "in progress." They show him after 5 completed stages as 35th stages.

As for his amazing performance at the 2000, let's not forget the quality of the support and hardware. All pretty good stuff. Which is not to take anything away from him! Obviously, an amazing driver!

 

[Jimmy8]

It looks like Mark is in 39th place after 9 stages.

PMC Racing

 

[TimHayosh]

As of about 7am (MST. GMT -0700) today. the DAKAR is over. Mark Miller finished!
Here's a cut-and paste of the "cars" overall standings:

Pos. Num. Name Time Diff Penalties
1 201 MASUOKA / MAIMON 46h 11' 30" 00' 00"
2 200 KLEINSCHMIDT / SCHULZ 46h 33' 31" 22' 01" 03' 00"
3 210 SHINOZUKA / DELLI - ZOTTI 46h 46' 45" 35' 15" 01' 00"
4 207 FONTENAY / PICARD 47h 49' 00" 1h 37' 30" 06' 00"
5 204 SOUSA / JESUS 51h 32' 27" 5h 20' 57"
6 241 AL HAJRI / STEVENSON 54h 36' 21" 8h 24' 51" 10' 00"
7 216 ALPHAND / DEBRON 56h 51' 32" 10h 40' 02"
8 225 KOLBERG / LARROQUE 58h 32' 39" 12h 21' 09"
9 239 RATET / GARCIN 61h 59' 33" 15h 48' 03" 16' 00"
10 249 MISSLIN / POLATO 64h 15' 52" 18h 04' 22" 10' 00"
11 206 DE LAVERGNE / DUBOIS 65h 07' 05" 18h 55' 35" 1h 13' 00"
12 223 LHOTELLERIE / LEHERON 65h 55' 47" 19h 44' 17" 06' 00"
13 235 BOURGNON / LENEVEU 66h 46' 52" 20h 35' 22" 1h 00' 00"
14 211 STRUGO / CATTARELLI 67h 50' 08" 21h 38' 38" 1h 00' 00"
15 237 ASAGA / ARAKAWA 67h 54' 02" 21h 42' 32" 25' 00"
16 232 LORA LAMIA / DI PERSIO 68h 39' 09" 22h 27' 39" 36' 00"
17 238 MONTERDE / PIO 69h 39' 06" 23h 27' 36" 3h 19' 00"
18 230 ARNOUX / LAPEYRE 71h 22' 25" 25h 10' 55"
19 290 MILLER / VON ZITZEWITZ 73h 06' 14" 26h 54' 44"

I couldn't find a good description of where Mark was within his class. I don't believe his Diesel Land Cruiser is in the same class as Masuoka's turbo gas burner.

Congratulations Mark!

 

[John Bitting]

Not that I like to toot our own horn... but, I will.. Mark Miller is running 3 foot Race-Dezert stickers on his rear quarter panels and on his roof, These have been known to bring very good luck when ran.. Ask Dan Vance.. With that said, Watch in laughlin for these vehicles running our stickers.. pciscott in TT class, Sourapas in class 1, Alan Plueger and pciscott in Protruck, Rick Taylor in 7 open, S&S in 7s along with a couple of other trucks, basically a free for all in 7s. Thats about it that I Know off.. I am sure we will get some more vehicles by laughlin... send me an e-mail if you want luck to be on your side. John@race-dezert.com

 

[AP255]

It looks like Mark is the top finishing Toyota taking 5th in class and 19th overall. All the other teams ahead of him drove Mitsubishi's that seems to be the better car to run for that race. What an incredible experience he must have had! Great job Mark! I am looking forward to hearing all about the race.


Aloha Alan Pflueger

Protruck #255

 

[John Bitting]

This is from toyota-trophy.com, very sad..

Team Toyota Trophy In Mourning.

It was with immense sadness that the Team Toyota Trophy learned of the accidental death of Daniel Vergnes, Tuesday, on the road from Atar to Tidjikja.

At the age of 54, Daniel Vergnes, had 35 years of experience in motor sport. Previously head mechanic with the Ligier team in Formula 1 for ten years, he was also involved in Prototype-Sport with Courage and Pescarolo. For the last three years, Daniel was responsible for the development and set up of the Toyota Land Cruisers for the Team Totoya Trophy. After consulting with all of the mechanics of the Team Toyota Trophy, it was decided to continue the rally. Jean-Paul Libert and Gilles Pillot have decided to continue to give their backing to the team to continue on to the finish in Dakar even if this leaves a bitter taste in everyone's mouth.

The remaining passengers present in the assistance car at the time of the crash will be repatriated today or tomorrow. The condition of Sheona Dorson-King and Benôit Agoyer is satisfactory, while the condition of Christophe Van Riet is stable.