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VW Race Touareg 2
Dakar Rally 2009 - Leg 14
Saturday, 17th January Cordoba > Buenos Aires
- Link section: 224 km
- Special stage: 227 km
- Link section: 341 km
- Total: 792 km
The adventure was finished in the Pampas. Following an expedition through two countries of continental dimensions, the competitors were back on well-known terrain. On the long, well passable ways, remaining focused was important. Those who made it to Buenos Aires, thus successfully completing the 2009 Dakar, may be proud of having contested the longest, most stunning round trip ever held as off-road rally. And they always will remain the first to have done so.
Altogether, the final leg is contested by 276 teams: 129 motorbikes and quads, 92 cars and 55 trucks.
And the Dakar’s South America premiere resulted in more premieres: In its sixth Dakar appearance, the Volkswagen works squad secured its maiden win. Furthermore, Volkswagen is the first manufacturer to prevail in the car-ranking of the legendary off-road event with a diesel powered car and is the winner of the Dakar’s inaugural edition on South American soil. And, even better: the Germans left Argentina with a one-two under their belts.
When the 14th and final leg was over, South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers and his co-driver secured the rally win with an 8:59-minute lead over their second-place VW team-mates, Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford.
The Race Touareg 2: Only when it has successfully coped with the toughest test available in motor racing – in superior style – when it has secured 10 of the 13 leg wins available and has inspired millions of people along the track – than it is ‘The Car’.
In the extremely gruelling endurance test for man and machine, the Volkswagen Race Touareg with its innovative 280bhp TDI engine proved to be the fastest and most reliable car. After all, the grid with 14 diesel-powered top cars also was the most competitive in the event’s history. On the way to their Dakar triumph, Volkswagen defeated the likes of Mitsubishi – the winners in every Dakar since 2001 – and the X-raid BMW Team. In addition to the winners – de Villiers/von Zitzewitz – and the second-placed Volkswagen of Miller and Pitchford, the third Race Touareg also finished the 2009 Dakar successfully: in the end, German pairing Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk came sixth. Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) who had been the car-category leaders for eight days, with another blue Red-Bull Race Touareg, had to retire from the lead due to an accident on day 12.
The 30th edition of the Dakar Rally has not only met all expectations – it even exceeded them. The concerns regarding the event’s relocation to Argentina and Chile vanished faster than the winner, Giniel de Villiers, could race through the Atacama Desert. And even the fact that the 9,500-kilometre marathon featuring 14 special stages with a total mileage of some 5.600 kilometres turned out to be extremely gruelling didn’t make an impact on this assessment.
It was the toughest rally of all times. Due to adverse weather conditions, several special stages had to be shortened or even cancelled and due to dense fog, the organisers were forced to delay some of the starts. The final leg of the event was contested by just 268 of the 530 cars, motorbikes, squads and trucks that had started into the off-road classic, some two weeks ago.
”The terrain was more multifaceted and more difficult,” said Carlos Sainz when comparing the new Dakar with Africa. And the Spaniard knows what he is talking about. Following a moment of carelessness in the dunes he somersaulted on the fifth special stage and afterwards, he had to complete the leg without windscreen and power-steering, taking him into a state of exhaustion. With his palms full of blisters and some 60° C in the cockpit, the VW figurehead came close to giving up. But at the end of the day, he got his act together – inter alia thanks to the stunning enthusiasm that could be witnessed everywhere from the Andes to the Pacific. In the end, however, the ‘Matador’ who had been dominating the Dakar for a long time was defeated, nevertheless. Falling into a four-metre ditch made an end to his hopes of winning the first Dakar held in South America.
But the show of the rally rock stars was continued – and the same applied to the enthusiasm of the fans. In the sea harbour Valparaiso, even Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet, visited the bivouac. An estimated crowd of ten million motor-racing enthusiasts came to the streets of the Andes states to witness the Dakar action live. For many hours, the passionate car enthusiasts stood alongside the streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes – waving flags, barbecuing and cheering.
Now, an exciting, emotional and thrilling Dakar has come to its end. This year’s edition in particular has exceeded all expectations and provided its competitors everything they had hoped for: adventure, atmosphere, challenges, a touch of madness and – in the case of Volkswagen – a historic win with a diesel engine.
