Volkswagen’s quest for a third successive Dakar Rally victory began on Saturday as the 33rd running of the world’s longest and toughest motor sport event got underway in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires. A total of 407 cars, trucks, bikes and quads started the epic 9 500-km 16-day journey through Argentina and Chile.
First among the 139 cars competing to drive off the start podium on the Avenue of 9th July was the diesel-powered Volkswagen Race Touareg of defending champions Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz of Spain with South African team-mates Giniel de Villiers, winner in 2009, and Ralph Pitchford, second in 2009, starting eighth and fourth respectively.
De Villiers is again paired with German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz while Pitchford is co-driver to regular teammate Mark Miller of the United States. Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk started second in the fourth factory Volkswagen.
All four successfully negotiated the day’s 377-km untimed liaison stage between Buenos Aires and the overnight stop at Victoria on the banks of the Rio Perana.
The first of 13 racing special stages covering a total of 5 000 km will take competitors on Sunday from Victoria to Cordoba. Cars and 67 trucks will be racing over a distance of 222 km, while 170 bikes and 30 quads will do battle over a 192-km route. An early high-speed section is followed by a more technically demanding mountainous section and narrow tracks that will introduce the contestants to the third Dakar to be held in South America since political unrest forced the organisers to move the event from its traditional African home.
Giniel de Villiers said: “Our goal is to drive at our own pace and give everything to winning. You cannot plan such a tough cross country rally and force success. We are very well prepared for the challenge and the new Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 is a big step forward. For these reasons I’m looking forward to this year’s race and am confident we can do well.”
Ralph Pitchford said: “Mark and I have prepared better than ever for this year’s race. We have both worked hard on our fitness and have given a great deal of thought to communication in the car. This is key to success, particularly this year with new rules making navigation even harder. The challenge is to remain calm whatever the situation and take time over our decision making.”
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