Autoblog UK

The recent Dakar Rally was won by South African Giniel de Villiers ahead of the two Americans, Mark Miller and Robby Gordon. The one-two victory for Volkswagen's Race Touareg 2 was a historic result for the Wolfsburg constructor. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, Robby Gordon took third place driving a Hummer H3. The second vehicle in the Team USA line-up, driven by Frenchman Eric Vigouroux, also finished the rally, taking 13th place.

Team USA started out with one destination in mind: Buenos Aires. Simply finishing the event was their main objective. Many of the favourites came unstuck on this particular 'Dakar' which was staged in Argentina and Chile for the first time, so Gordon's third-place finish is one more incentive for him to enter next time round as well.

After their success in 2009, Team USA are planning to go into next year's Dakar with a third vehicle. It will be driven by ex-Formula One racer Eliseo Salazar who also competed in the IndyCar Series. Their choice of the 55-year-old was clearly influenced by his nationality: Salazar is Chilean. So they are obviously hoping to benefit from the home advantage factor, because all the indications are that the event will once again be staged in Argentina and Chile. The sheer enthusiasm of the spectators along the course was an unforgettable experience for all the competitors.

Mitsubishi announced today their decision to withdraw from Cross Country Rallying, starting with the legendary Dakar Rally.

In its 26 entries in this event, Mitsubishi Motors won the rally a total of 12 times, including seven consecutive victories. In addition to this unparalleled record the company also gained 4WD technology that informs its production vehicles, most visible in their durability and off road performance.

The sudden deterioration of the global economy made it necessary for the company to focus its resources more tightly, leading to today's announcement.

The first Dakar rally in South America ran over two weeks and now it has finished. We take a look back at the rally raid classic.

1. Shortened stages. It was the running gag at the Dakar. Every morning a stage change and usually stage shortening was announced. The reasons ranged from "too little sand on the course" through "too much rain" to archaeological excavations that must not be disturbed. All we are waiting for now is route changes because of "little green men".

2. One type of 'man' that still exists in the Dakar is the 'gentleman driver', one of whom is Belgian Eric Palante. Amid the dunes he discovered Annie Seel, who was stranded. A graceful lady in the middle of the desert, so naturally he drew off some fuel to allow her to continue. Foolishly he did not close his tank filler cap properly and lost all of his fuel. He had to ask for fuel from the driver of a small Honda, a Hungarian motorbike rider and the driver of an old truck, the latter of whom gave him half a litre in a used Coke bottle.

Volkswagen won the 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile with the Race Touareg and thus made motorsport history. The exploit clinched by the South African-German duo Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz in the debut event of the legendary desert classic in South America marked the first ever victory of a diesel-powered vehicle in the automobile class in the 30-year-history of the "Dakar". Their Volkswagen team colleagues Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford as the runners-up completed the exploit as a one-two victory.

In the extremely tough test for man and material the Volkswagen Race Touareg with its innovative 280-hp TDI engine proved to be the fastest and most reliable car, while the field of contenders – featuring 14 top cars with diesel engines – was of a higher calibre than ever. Volkswagen defeated the serial "Dakar" winners, Mitsubishi, who had not been beaten since 2001, as well as the X-raid BMW team. Besides de Villiers/von Zitzewitz and Miller/Pitchford at the top, the German duo Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk in another Race Touareg finished the Dakar Rally, in sixth place overall. Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) in another one of the Red Bull blue Race Touareg vehicles, who had been leading the class of the total of 168 cars that had started to the event on eight days, retired after an accident on the twelfth leg while leading the rally.

On the penultimate day of the Dakar Mitsubishi Ralliart pair Nani Roma & Lucas Cruz, got their first stage victory in the Dakar on the shortened 13th leg of the special between La Rioja and Córdoba. The Spanish pair started the special in 21st position, but climbed steadily to get the first stage victory for Mitsubishi & Repsol in the 2009 Rally Dakar, and confirmed their sixth position in the overall classification.

This is also the first stage victory for Roma with the team, and his first ever victory in the car category. The day will be very emotional for Roma as this evening he will receive a special trophy in the bivouac in Córdoba; the "Henri Magne" to the best co-driver in the Dakar 2009. The deceased Magne was Roma`s co-driver and died in the Rally Morocco 2006.

Volkswagen has kept the upper hand with three cars leading the event, even on the extremely demanding tenth leg of the 2009 Dakar Rally: Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn in the Race Touareg extended their advantage in the overall classification by another 7.39 minutes, to 27.31 minutes. On the loop around Copiapó in Chile, which contained a lot of camel grass and high dune fields with soft sand as well as stony and rough sections, the duo clinched its sixth stage victory with a narrow lead. After 470 kilometres through the Atacama desert merely 21 seconds separated the Volkswagen team from Robby Gordon/Andy Grider (USA/USA) in the Hummer. For Sainz, who is just contesting his third "Dakar", this marked as much as the 15th stage victory in the off-road classic.

Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford solidified their second place overall in the rally by setting the third-best time of the day despite a puncture. For the first time, Volkswagen's outright advantage over their best rival has increased to over one hour: ranking fourth overall, Nani Roma/Lucas Cruz as the only remaining Mitsubishi team are trailing Carlos Sainz by as much as 1:13 hour. The drivers in the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart, Nani Roma & Lucas Cruz, survived what should have been the longest and toughest in the Dakar 2009. The Spanish pair finished the 670km loop in the Atacama desert in fifth place, after it was shortened to 476km by the organisers, and the two stay fourth in the overall.

The originally planned eleventh leg involving the crossing of the Andes and the border from Chile to Argentina has been cancelled due to a prediction of inclement weather, and converted into a liaison stage.

Volkswagen celebrated its seventh stage victory on the ninth leg of the 2009 Dakar Rally, maintaining its overall lead with stage winners Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), ahead of two further Race Touareg vehicles.

The 537-kilometre leg from La Serena to Copiapó in Chile demanded concentrated performance of the navigators, particularly during the starting phase, and put a severe physical strain on the crews due to long off-road stretches with hard impacts and stony sections. At first, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford looked like the stage winners for a long time. However, the American/South African duo lost about five minutes just before the finish because of a tyre change, but improved by one position in the overall classification. Miller/Pitchford took second place from their team colleagues Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz, who lost 12.01 minutes on the ninth competition day due to a navigation error.

Carlos Sainz, who had been leading the cross-country classic for three days from the second leg onwards, then being replaced at the top for two days, has been running in front in the overall classification again since last Friday. After five stage victories, his lead over Miller now amounts to almost 20 minutes.

Nani Roma and his co-driver Lucas Cruz, have kept their fourth position in the Dakar 2009. They set the seventh best time on the ninth special in the southern part of the Atacama desert. Roma & Cruz occupied sixth place at the first control at kilometre 131 on the special that linked La Serena and Copiapó. These were the first kilometres in the Atacama desert, the highest dry region in the world, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east.

Volkswagen started the second week of the Dakar Rally exactly the way the first half on Friday before the rest day had ended: by securing a triple stage victory and maintaining its previous one-two-three lead. The day's best result was clinched yet again by Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn, who scored a fourth stage victory in the Race Touareg, thus further extending his overall lead.

On the eighth leg from Valparaíso to La Serena in Chile the German Volkswagen duo Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk reached the destination in second position with a 4.02-minute gap to Sainz/Périn; they were followed in third place ten seconds later by Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford in the third of the blue Race Touareg vehicles.

Volkswagen clinched a thrilling duel on the fourth leg of the Dakar Rally to win its second stage victory. On today's route from Jacobacci to Neuquén in western Argentina, Carlos Sainz fought it out with Nasser Al-Attiyah until the Volkswagen duo gained the upper hand with a lead of six seconds. Sainz now leads the famous desert classic for the third consecutive day and has increased his lead on the BMW X-raid driver to 3.46 minutes.

In their battle for the front position, Sainz and Al-Attiyah put more than two minutes between themselves and the third best team, which goes to show how intense the competition on today's 488-kilometre leg was. Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner were the first crew into the stage and held an advantage early on, before slipping behind eventual stage winner Sainz.

X-raid's Sails Capital Racing Team rebounded from Sunday's small setback to again set the fastest time in the third, albeit shortened, 550km varied gravel stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally across Patagonia between Puerto Madryn and Ingeniero Jacobacci on Monday.

Day one leaders, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Tina Thörner, started the stage in ninth position on the road in their BMW X3 CC and set the fastest time - their second in three days - to move up the leader board from fourth to second overall.

Volkswagen continues to hold its ground after the third leg of the Dakar Rally, with Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F) remaining at the top of the leader board. With some controlled driving, the Spanish-French duo was able to increase the lead it established yesterday in its Race Touareg by more than a minute to 3.40 minutes on the 694-kilometre leg westwards from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci in Argentina. The third leg presented the participants with speedy stretches and with winding – and therefore also demanding – sections. With some rocky ground to cover, they had to reduce the risk of tyre blowouts in order not to forfeit valuable time.

Mitsubishi's Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard lost around 30 minutes before the first control because of a small fuel leak and fell back to tenth place. But the crews Stéphane Peterhansel-Jean-Paul Cottret and Nani Roma-Lucas Cruz are still driving strongly and battling to be among the race leaders after the third leg in Patagonia.