Snippets from Volkswagen bivouac
Schnitzel in the cockpit: "Schnitzel” – that's the lettering on the co- driver's side of the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 driven by Giniel de Villiers.

"My foreign colleagues had problems pronouncing my name,” explained co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz. "At some point, Schniiietzewitz turned into Schnitzel, which is probably ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Mitsubishi Motors - Leg 14
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart arrived in the Sénégalese capital of Dakar firmly in command of the 29th Dakar Rally, after the penultimate special stage between Tambacounda and Dakar on Saturday.

The French duo of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret began the last of the longer African special stages 11m ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Volkswagen Motorsport - Leg 14
Volkswagen managed another top performance on the 14th and penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally: For the ninth time, a Race Touareg clinched a stage victory, for the third consecutive time, and fifth altogether, Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (Spain/France) achieved such a result.

To top it off, Volkswagen claimed ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Leg 14 - Summary
The Tambacounda – Dakar stage had to be completed without trouble to thing about the final victory with a bit more certainly. Mission accomplished for Cyril Despres, who only timed 5th of the day, but will start at Lac Rose with a 36-minute lead over teammate David Casteu.

The day's special has been won by Brazilian Jean ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Leg 13 - Summary
Two days from the arrival in Dakar just as the rally was entering Senegal, the motorbike race was hit by another bombshell with Marc Coma's serious crash after only 57 kilometres of the special stage.

The leader of the general rankings since the first Moroccan stage suffered a head injury after hitting a tree. Cyril Despres ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Volkswagen Motorsport - Leg 13
Another stage victory for Volkswagen in the Dakar Rally: After yesterday's exploit Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (Spain/France) also won the 13th of 15 legs of the desert classic, a 458-kilometre section from Kayes in Mali to Tambacounda in Senegal.

For Sainz, it marked as much as his fourth stage victory, for ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : News from leg 13
Having lost his direction after 34 km of the day's special stage, and whilst he was following a track parallel to the ideal route, leader of the general rankings Spaniard Marc Coma, has crashed after 57 km of the special stage and has been taken back to the bivouac by helicopter.

Having fallen 500 m from CP1, but fortunately ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : News from leg 13
458 km, including 260 against the clock, are on the menu of the thirteenth stage. A very fast route awaits the participants.

Rally pilots will again have an opportunity of having a whale of a time, even if copilots will still have to work on finding the right route in this maze of crisscrossing trails looping around baobabs. ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Mitsubishi Motors - Leg 12
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart drivers Stéphane Peterhansel and Luc Alphand stayed in firm control of the 29th Dakar Rally, after the 257km special stage between Ayoûn-el-Atroûs in Mauritania and Kayes in north-western Mali on Thursday. But Alphand and co-driver Gilles Picard managed to reduce Peterhansel's and Jean-Paul ... [ more ]

Dakar Rally : Volkswagen Motorsport - Leg 12
One-two for Volkswagen on twelfth stage of the Dakar Rally: Factory driver Carlos Sainz (Spain) and co-driver Michel Périn (France) won the 484 kilometre stage from Ayoun-el-Atrous (Mauritania) to Kayes (Mali) in their Race Touareg. They clocked up a lead of 3:53 minutes over their Volkswagen comrades Carlos Sousa/Andy ... [ more ]