Volkswagen World

Volkswagen has won the Dakar Rally for the third time in succession and a podium lock-out for the second year.  Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) claimed first place and they will be joined by the two previous Dakar winning duos of Giniel de Villiers / Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Carlos Sainz / Lucas Cruz (E/E) who will stand alongside them on the podium in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

In front of millions of enthusiastic spectators, the new Race Touareg 3 scored a much celebrated one-two-three finish in the desert classic through Argentina and Chile. As a result, Volkswagen is the only manufacturer to have won the automobile category in the desert classic with diesel technology – and remains unbeaten on the South American continent thanks to TDI power.  To complete the victory all three cars must still roll across the winner’s ramp on Sunday and midday local time in Buenos Aires.

One of the Volkswagen teams led the rally from the start and the Race Touareg 3 claimed 12 of a possible 13 stage victories over the course of the rally.  The challenges included winding gravel roads, soft and deep desert sand in the unrelenting Atacama Desert, navigationally demanding sections through labyrinth-like canyons and washed-out river beds as well as spectacular river crossings.

Carlos Sainz also realised a personal best with his stage victory on the way to Buenos Aires with stage win number 24, surpassing the record of 23 stage victories scored in the car class by current rival Stéphane Peterhansel.   Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) completed the solid Volkswagen team performance in sixth position. All four Race Touareg 3 that started finished the rally in leading positions and continued the success story of enviable reliability: Volkswagen has not recorded a single technically related retirement in cross country rallying in four years.

Volkswagen once again set the standards during the 2011 Dakar Rally with the winning formula of reliable technology, teamwork and strong driver squad.  The TDI technology, which represents efficiency and reliability in millions of Volkswagen road cars, has revolutionised cross country rallying.  The four 310 hp Race Touareg 3 covered the overall distance of approximately 9,600 kilometres with clockwork precision – and in the process always perfectly prepared for the forthcoming rally day by a closely-knit team and prepared tactically astute by Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.  In addition to the service crew on location, the employees in Wolfsburg and Hanover undertook careful preparatory work beforehand – indispensable for the Dakar win.  The technological basis – unbeaten since the end of 2008 – was converted by Sainz / Cruz into seven, Al-Attiyah / Gottschalk into four and de Villiers / von Zitzewitz into one stage victory.

The Wolfsburg based brand has been pace setter since the event moved from Africa to South America.  In January 2009, Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz recorded the Volkswagen’s first Dakar victory since the prototype project started in 2004, followed by their team mates Mark Miller / Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA).  In 2010, the first one-two-three followed with Carlos Sainz / Lucas Cruz (E/E) claiming victory from team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah / Timo Gottschalk and Mark Miller / Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the closest ever Dakar finish in history.  This year’s result sees Al-Attiyah become the first Arab in the desert classic’s history to be presented with the Dakar winners’ trophy and marks the team’s third successive victory.

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
‘The third successive Dakar victory for Volkswagen is a historic performance which was achieved thanks to perfect teamwork, exceptional driving and navigational skills and more specifically thanks to superior technology.  I’m incredibly proud of the entire team; the employees who made this win possible and also the team with its superhuman efforts here on location.  It was without a shadow of doubt the toughest Dakar that we have ever contested, and also probably the best organised.  My compliments therefore also go to the organiser A.S.O.  I think we proved that the Race Touareg 3 is currently the world’s most reliable and strongest cross country rally vehicle.  This is the result of years of hard work. Congratulations to Nasser and Timo who have worked outstandingly and obviously also to the other Volkswagen pairs who made this one-two-three finish possible.’
 
#302 – Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 1st position overall
‘My first Dakar win and I’m absolutely delighted to be the first Arab to win the world’s toughest desert rally.  These feelings are incredibly difficult to express in words.  I reached my greatest goal thanks to the world’s best cross country rally car and the best team in this sport.  I’m delighted for the entire squad which slaved around the clock for three weeks for this victory.  In Timo I have an exceptional co-driver at my side, who played an immense role in this victory.  Today we’ll party like there’s no tomorrow.’
 
#302 – Timo Gottschalk (D), co-driver
‘Victory in the Dakar – I can still hardly believe it.  Over the last few days, we built up a comfortable advantage and things looked really good for us in the previous stages. Nevertheless, everybody ignored any thoughts of victory, because anything can happen in this rally even within sight of the finish.  I’m proud and happy about the win. It was the hardest Dakar which I have ever contested.  We’ve now spent two weeks at the absolute physical limit.  The organiser kept its promise of wanting to stage the toughest Dakar Rally ever so to have won exactly this one is an incredibly good feeling.’
 
#308 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 4th place leg / 2nd position overall
‘The Dakar Rally is an extremely long race during which a great deal can happen.  At the beginning we tried to drive cautiously and tactically because you only have a chance of getting a good result if you reach the finish.  This approach brought us second place and I’m delighted about the result as a podium finish in the Dakar Rally is always something special and something we can personally be proud of.  The team can be proud of making first, second and third positions possible.’
 
#308 – Dirk von Zitzewitz (D), co-driver
‘An incredibly demanding Dakar because the days were extremely long with early mornings, and we only reached the bivouac in the late afternoon.  There were loads of changes to the roadbook, which duly gave us co-drivers plenty of work during the night and the stages were also physically challenging.  In the Atacama Desert the navigation could certainly have been a little more challenging, which was the case in Argentina, as is fitting for a Dakar.  My highlight was the Fiambalá stage which we won because of perfect navigation.  All in all a positive Dakar Rally for me – especially because second overall was the reward.’
 

#300 – Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 3rd position overall
‘All in all, I’m more than satisfied with 2011 Dakar Rally.  I think that my co-driver Lucas Cruz and I did a good job and therefore were rightfully fighting for victory for a long time.  Unfortunately two bad days and several mistakes cost us any chance of overall victory but this is the Dakar Rally: You always have to be alert.  I’m delighted for the entire Volkswagen team, which truly deserves this one-two-three finish, and to have contributed to it.  Everybody worked hard for this win.’

#300 – Lucas Cruz (E), co-driver
‘This was by far the most challenging Dakar that I have ever completed.  It was full of tricky situations for a navigator which had to be solved with caution.  There were plenty of dune sections of soft sand which meant an incredible amount of work for the driver in the cockpit and on top of this were the WRC-like sections with jumps and extreme temperatures. The rally was very varied but the Race Touareg 3 is the perfect car for such conditions.  From the sporting point of view we were beaten for the first time since Carlos and I compete together.  However, I think that we nevertheless did a good job.  Luck deserted us on occasion.’
 
#304 – Mark Miller (USA), 5th place leg / 6th position overall
‘This Dakar was a wonderful event, with many interesting stages that demanded everything from man and machine.  Unfortunately we lost so much time on the second stage that we were out of the battle for overall victory but our role was then to support our team mates – a task we were happy to do.  When you work an entire year as a team for victory, it goes without saying that you support one another to reach the targets.  We did exactly this with energy and vigour on the eleventh stage to help Carlos onto the podium.’
 
#304 – Ralph Pitchford (ZA), co-driver
‘This year on the Dakar Rally there were many hard stages that ran through fascinating landscapes.  Mark and I had real highlight stages which we enjoyed but unfortunately we lost our chance of overall victory right at the beginning.  I’m delighted for the entire team that it turned out to be a one-two-three finish and I think this is just reward.  Now, after the last stage, and after all the tension has gone, we’ll have a big celebration.  It was fantastic to have worked together with this team and we have all earned the fun and relaxation which comes now.’

Number of the day

During the 33rd running of the desert classic, the total length of pen markings made while Dakar winner Timo Gottschalk prepared his road book was 120 metres.  For better identification of the directions at rally pace, the German uses five different day-glow marker pens.