VW Race Touareg 2

Dakar Rally 2009 - Leg 3

Monday, 5th January: Puerto Madryn > Jacobacci

• Link section: 70 km
• Special stage: 616 km
• Link section: 8 km
• Total: 694 km

On day three of the 2009 Dakar, the programme features a special stage with a total mileage of over 600 kilometres – a clear hint to the fact that the competitors now are deep in the action. Nonetheless, the true difficulties are yet to come. Entering Patagonian soil is accompanied by a significant change of the track profile and demands new driving skills. The landscape is clearly hillier and the friends of long bends get exactly what they want. Here, the lakes located alongside the track – about a dozen the day – and the Flamingos represent the landmarks that represent the favoured signposts, during this leg.

At the crack of dawn, the competitors and teams at the bivouac entrance are welcomed by a sight nobody had expected: just as they often do for the mountain legs, many rally enthusiasts camped at the roadside to witness the arrival of the rally baggage. The Dakar is welcomed in a way nobody could have imagined.

Obviously, this passion also represents an additional spur for Spain’s Carlos Sainz: on day three of the first Dakar Rally held in South America, he underlines his claim for the first Volkswagen win in the off-road classic.

He sticks close to his toughest rival, Al-Attiyah. Two days after his first win, however, Al-Attiyah again sets the fastest time. He wins the 616-kilometre special stage, thus working his way back up to second position in the overall standings. Nonetheless, rally veteran Sainz defends his lead, 3:40 minutes ahead of his rival from Qatar. In the closing stages, the rally leader even really goes for the leg win but in the end, he doesn’t quite make it and comes second, 35 seconds behind the BMW driver.

Meanwhile, three-time German Rally Champion Dieter Depping and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk – who both make their debut appearance as members of Volkswagen’s official Dakar line-up – set the third-fastest time of the day to leap up from 26th to 15th position in the overall standings.

Multi-time Dakar winners Mitsubishi, however, have lost some momentum, on the 664-kilometre leg from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci located to the west. The best driver of the squad that has secured every Dakar win since 2001 is French record winner Stéphane Peterhansel in fourth position – who has to cope with a 8:47-minute gap to Sainz. Peterhansel’s team-mate Luc Alphand, the 2006 Dakar winner, lost 33 minutes on the mix of rugged gravel and deep sand, thus dropping from sixth to tenth.

Behind the curtains with Gernot Bauer »