Dakar Rally (Day 4): VW takes the lead

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January 4, 2006 The Dakar Rally, from Lisbon to Dakar (Senegal), began on Saturday 31 December 2005 with a 370 kilometre stage from Lisbon to Portimão, followed on New Year’s Day with a further 567 kilometres to Málaga, Then followed a seven hour ferry crossing to Morocco for the entire rally contingent before racing got underway in Africa. There have been no surprises to date with Mitsubishi (questing for its sixth consecutive win) and the massive Volkswagen factory Touareg effort alternately holding the lead. In the bikes, the winning marque is already a foregone conclusion with KTM machinery holding the first six places. Yesterday Volkswagen hit back strongly with multiple WRC champion Carlos Sainz skipping out to a five minute lead and Volkswagen taking the first three places overall. Last year our extensive coverage of the Dakar Rally dubbed it the “Most Dangerous Sporting Event in the World” and compared it with the famous road races of 100 years ago. This year our coverage will be written separately for motorcycles and cars.

AFTER STAGE 4

Volkswagen struck back at Mitsubishi in the second African stage of the event yesterday with works driver Carlos Sainz winning the 639 kilometre section from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate in Morocco in the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 and, in the process, reclaimed the overall lead that he had already held after the first two stages. "I'm surprised to be at the front again,” said Sainz. “We started twelfth, followed Luc Alphand for ages and drove at a normal pace. We didn't have the feeling that we were particularly fast. It was a significant advantage from the navigational point of view to start where we did."

Bruno Saby in second overall and Jutta Kleinschmidt in third completed the trio of 275 hp TDI diesel Volkswagen prototypes at the head of the field. Saby was delighted with the result - "We've picked up another position! A great result after such a challenging day.”

Kleinschmidt’s third place for the all-female team was a surprise for her. "Before the first check point we had to tighten bolts on the steering wheel which had vibrated loose. A tyre failure cost us additional time. We thought that the day was already over after this. It's great that we moved up a position in spite of these problems.”

The Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team endured mixed fortunes with team drivers Luc Alphand, Joan ’Nani’ Roma, Stéphane Peterhansel and Hiroshi Masuoka completed the timed section in third, 11th, 14th and 15th positions and now hold fourth, ninth, 11th and 13th in the overall classification.

The French duo of Alphand and Gilles Picard were fifth through PC1, as they attempted to climb back up the leaderboard after a cautious run on Monday. They finished the stage in third position, behind Sainz and Frenchman Thierry Magnaldi.

"Today was again a game of avoiding the dust," said Alphand. "We had a good run for about 100 kms, but then we caught some drivers, including Stéphane, who had taken the wrong track and finished the stage in the dust again. Tomorrow is a tight stage with a fast chott at the finish, but dust will be a factor."

Overnight leaders Roma and Henri Magne started the stage in sixth place on the road and finished the section in 11th position. They slipped to ninth place on the leaderboard.

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