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(Mon 18 Jan 10) Having become the first manufacturer to win the Dakar Rally in 2009, Volkswagen has achieved the double this year in great style, claiming all three podium positions.
Former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz emerged on top (the first all-Spanish crew ever to do so) in their Race Touareg despite a last-minute charge by team-mates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk. Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford were third, while the first non-Volkswagen - the BMW X3 of Stephane Peterhansel - finished more than two hours behind Sainz in fourth. There's little doubt, though, that Peterhansel should have been a contender for overall honours. He was leading the event going into Stage 5, but stopped with transmission trouble after 135km, and then again later. The total delay he suffered was estimated at the time as being more than two hours . . . The Dakar Rally is not just about cars, of course. Cyril Despres completed his hat-trick in the bikes class (he won the event in 2005 and 2007), Marcos Patronelli led home the quad riders, and the legendary Vladimir Chagin, who has now achieved an all-time record 56 stage victories in the event dominated the truck category. |
