Touaregs in formation – no more racing teammates 16/01/2009
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With nothing to lose, Nani Roma stormed his Lancer forward today and took the penultimate stage win of this year’s Dakar Rally. It is a first stage victory and a consolation prize of sorts as well, not only for himself and co-driver Lucas Cruz, but also for the Mitsubishi team – which has been watching over its sole remaining contender like a mother hen.”This stage victory is a satisfaction for everybody,” declared Roma. “Now, we are going to go back to Buenos Aires without taking too much risk. I am not disappointed at the end of this Dakar.”In the Volkswagen camp, the rally-leading drivers are running their Touaregs in formation. Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller even stopped to allow Dieter Depping to catch up and play the role of guardian angel.
“I think we can call this a team stage. The most important is to reach the finish, particularly after losing a car yesterday,” said de Villiers, referring to Carlos Sainz’s crash.With a maiden Dakar victory opening its arms to greet the VW effort at tomorrow’s finish, team boss Kriss Nissen has issued his orders in an attempt to avoid any trouble on the final kilometers.”The manager wanted us to drive like this today and we abide by the wishes of the team. It’s important for Volkswagen to finish the Dakar in first and second places,” de Villiers underlined. “We don’t want to take any chances anymore. It would be meaningless. We worked hard to get to this and throwing it all away on the last two stages would not be clever.”
2009 Dakar Rally – Stage 9 Results 12/01/2009
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It sure was a blue Monday for American motorbike fans as KTM rider Jonah Street pulled out the 2009 Dakar due to a wrist injury incurred on the previous stage. Street had always been competitive during the event, climbing up to fourth in the overall biker rankings before he hung up his helmet at the beginning of this 449 kilometre special stage between La Serena and Coplapo. On a positive note, however, it was awesome to see Holland’s Frans Verhoeven win today’s stage after starting in 33rd position. Storming through dust and dunes, the KTM rider stunned everyone by crossing the finish line over three seconds ahead of Fretigne and Lopez who finished second and third respectively. Spain’s marc Coma may have come fourth, but this Dakar flyer still manages to retain his lead in the overall biker standings. (more…)
Stage victory went to Despres – Red Bull KTM 12/01/2009
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In fighting form after the rest day, the stage victory went to Despres (Red Bull KTM) 1′49 ahead of Coma (Repsol KTM) with local hero Francisco Lopez (KTM) third (at 2′56). David Frétigné, Jonah Street and Ullevalseter all ran into problems allowing Cyril to move up two places to third overall. He is now less than 30 minutes from second-placed Frétigné in the overall standings. Coma continues to maintain an impressive lead of 1h06′28 over Frétigné. He also has a 1h33′34 over Cyril. Alain Duclos (Kaestle KTM) had his best day of the rally so far, finishing fourth (at 12′39) with Jordi Viladoms fifth (at 13′12). For more Dakar Race, Africa Race and Baja Desert Racing News and Information please visit Puro Off-Road
Cyril Despres
“The man who makes the modification to the road book, Jean-Pierre Fontenay said in his notes that today was more rally and than rally-raid and he wasn’t joking, we must have taken 2000 corners. We were riding on something like a smooth white laterite piste and there wasn’t much grip. I tried to stay standing up the whole time, shifting my weight back when braking and then moving it to the middle when accelerating. At refuelling I saw that I had come back on Marc and Lopez and that Fretigne and Street were losing time. Then just after the CP1 we had a tricky bit of off-piste. Towards the end Francisco really attacked and that suit me fine as I wanted to put as much time between me and the guys behind me. Moving up to third has really given me a boost.”
Marc Coma
“It was technical today like an Enduro, there wasn’t much grip and it was difficult to maintain a good pace without out-braking yourself. Although it was challenging it was fun to ride. As was predicted I caught up Lopez and Cyril caught me and we crossed the line pretty much together. ”
Alain Duclos
“That was more like it. I liked the terrain today, my back felt better after the rest day and I was able to ride like normal. It looks like we are coming to a few difficult days so it is good that I will be starting close to Cyril and be there to help him if he should need me. ”
Jordi Viladoms
“There was so little grip that I was worried about spinning the tyre too much and overheating the mousse so I made sure I accelerated as gently as possible out of the corners and tried to pull as high a gear as possible. At refuelling I saw that in fact the mousse was doing ok and so after that I was able to pick up the pace a little. ”
Dakar organisers exclude Al Attiyah 08/01/2009
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The news fell over the bivouac in mid-evening: Dakar Rally boss Etienne Lavigne announced that the current rally leader in the cars category has been ruled out of the event. “The No.302 BMW of Nasser Al Attiyah and Tina Thörner has been excluded from the rally,” stated Lavigne, explaining that “nine way points were missed” during Thursday’s stage. The Qatari had earlier admitted to missing a way point because he used alternate routes in an effort to save his overheating engine.
The now former rally leader held the advantage over Volkswagen drivers Giniel de Villiers and Carlos Sainz, and seemed the only driver able to hold back the VW charge.
Giniel de Villers is now the new leader of the 2009 Dakar Rally. On Friday morning the South African will therefore open the road from Mendoza, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile where Saturday’s rest day awaits.
