Dakar

Silk Way Rally: Volkswagen stage 2 summary

100th stage victory for Volkswagen Race Touareg Wolfsburg (06 September 2009). Jubilee success along the Silk Road: Volkswagen factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) clinched their first stage victory on the ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:15 PM

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100th stage victory for Volkswagen Race Touareg

Wolfsburg (06 September 2009). Jubilee success along the Silk Road: Volkswagen factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) clinched their first stage victory on the second leg of the Silk Way Rally and took the overall lead. Their exploit marks the 100th stage win of the Race Touareg powered by a TDI engine which has participated in 26 competitions since its debut in 2004, winning every second stage and clinching eleven overall wins in the process. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) in places two, three and four completed Volkswagen's 1-2-3-4 win of today's leg. The second leg took the teams from Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, along the "new" Silk Road across 478 kilometres to Bougourouslan. The motorway connection between Eastern Europe and Asia, which is currently under construction, formed part of the special stage.

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"With four Race Touareg vehicles in the top four places, we handled the first longer leg of the Silk Way Rally in an optimal manner. Among other things, there were three different factors which enabled the Race Touareg's 100th stage win as well as its historic Dakar victory in January: innovative TDI technology, top-class drivers and co-drivers as well as outstanding engineers and mechanics."

#100 - Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 4th place leg / 4th place overall
"Right at the start of the special stage we hit the ground hard in a dip and afterwards we experienced some slight misfiring and no longer had full engine power. Shortly after that, we missed a branch-off and Carlos was able to pass us. The rally is still long and anything's possible even though we did lose a little more time than we'd have liked to."

#101 - Carlos Sainz (E), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall
"The route leads alongside and across the construction site of the new motorway. Long, quick sections on the gravel bed alternated with many branch-offs in the surrounding fields. After passing Giniel we had to open the leg - this was not an easy feat but, on the whole, it was good in order to find our rhythm."

#103 - Mark Miller (USA), 3rd place leg / 3rd place overall
"For my co-driver Ralph and me the crucial thing in the beginning was to get used to working together again. The leg featured more tasks for the navigator than for the drivers because two or three branch-offs were difficult to identify. In terms of driving, it was a moderate challenge as we were often running straight ahead at high speed."

#104 - Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"Of course I'm really happy about our stage win. The leg strongly resembled a World Rally Championship round as we were mostly running on paved roads and gravel stretches. Our reward for today is being allowed to open the course on tomorrow's leg - that's why we'll continue to act with due caution."

Coming up next--
The third day will confront the contenders with a leg split into two parts and the crossing Kazakhstan. The first section leads to Bougourouslan across 117 kilometres of a special stage featuring quick but extremely demanding stretches with many directional changes, jumps and up- and downhill sections. The second part across 114 kilometres is more harmonious and, including liaison stages, ends after a total of 581 kilometres in Uralsk, Kazakhstan.

The Silk Way Rally 2009 on TV, on Eurosport
Monday, 07 Sep 09
08.30 - 08.45 Leg 2
13.45 - 14.00 Leg 2 (rerun)

The Silk Way Rally 2009 on TV, on n-tv
The news channel n-tv carries daily reports on the Silk Way Rally in its newscasts at 8.00, 10.00, 12.00, 14.00 and 18.00 hrs.

-credit: vw

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