X-Raid Russia's Novitskiy sets second fastest time on final Dakar stage

X-RAID TEAM DAKAR RALLY 2009 (January 3rd-January 18th, 2009)
Leg 14: Córdoba – Buenos Aires Liaison, 224 km; special, 227 km; liaison, 341 km; total, 792 km.


• X-raid’s Novitskiy and Chicherit confirm eighth and ninth overall
• Kuipers incurs delayed penalties and slips out of top 15

X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team confirmed a second and fifth fastest time and two cars inside the final top 10, after the 14th special stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally between Córdoba and Buenos Aires on Saturday. This was arguably the most challenging and unpredictable event in the notorious 31-year history of the world’s most famous cross-country rally.

Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit capped a dramatic two weeks for the Trebur-based team with the fifth-quickest time in his BMW X3 CC after leading the stage at the first PC. It was an enjoyable end to two topsy-turvy weeks for Chicherit and co-driver Matthieu Baumel, who celebrated his 33rd birthday today. The result was sufficient for Chicherit to confirm ninth overall, with X-raid Russia team mate Leonid Novitskiy setting the second fastest time over the 227km to maintain an excellent eighth in the final rankings.

 The final day of a maiden Dakar Rally was tarnished somewhat for Dutchman René Kuipers and his Portuguese co-driver Filipe Palmiero. Kuipers had performed superbly well on his Dakar debut, but the ASO imposed a further 10 hours’ of time penalties on several crews who missed the final section of the stage into La Rioja at the Cõrdoba bivouac. T

he Dutchman duly lost his 10th place, despite setting an excellent seventh quickest time on the final stage. Three of X-raid’s six BMW X3 CCs retired earlier in the race: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner had been the revelation of the opening stages for the X-raid team and set two fastest stage times and held the overall lead, before missing several crucial way-points in a series of sand dunes. They were duly withdrawn from the race before teams crossed the Andes into Chile last week.

Dutchman Peter van Merksteijn and Belgian co-driver Eddy Chevallier were sidelined by a fire in a stage, but Argentina’s Orlando Terranova and French co-driver Alain Guehennec were running inside the top 10 before leaving the stage and damaging the car’s safety cage when it dropped into a small ravine.

South African Giniel de Villiers set the fastest time on the final stage to confirm his first Dakar Rally win, with an 8m 32s winning margin over American Mark Miller. From the original 530 starters, 129 bikes and quads, 92 cars and 55 trucks were permitted to start the fina stage into Buenos Aires, but the ASO had been busy imposing further time penalties on some crews overnight, as the general consistency of the results remained volatile until the final day.

There will be no competitive action tomorrow (Saturday), but surviving crews will take part in the much-vaunted ceremonial finish in downtown Buenos Aires. Over half a million people attended the ceremonial start on Friday, January 2nd and an even greater number are anticipated at the finish, such has been the interest shown by the local population in this year’s Dakar Rally.

Overall positions on leg 14 (unofficial @ 12.00hrs): 1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg(T1.2) 1h 35m 43s 2. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 1h 35m 45s 3. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 1h 36m 00s 4. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 1h 36m 21s 5. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Matthieu Baumel (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 1h 36m 33s 6. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 1h 42m 22s 7. René Kuipers (NL)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 1h 44m 45s

Overall positions after leg 14: 1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 48h 10m 57s 2. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 48h 19m 56s 3. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 49h 57m 12s 4. Ivar Erik Tollefsen (N)/Quin Evans (GB) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 54h 15m 31s 5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 54h 48m 46s 6. Dieter Depping (D)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 56h 54m 26s 7. Miroslav Zapletal (CZ)/Tomas Ourednicek (CZ) Mitsubishi L200 (T1.2) 59h 14m 05s 8 Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 61h 26m 10s 9. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Matthieu Baumel (F) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 63h 00m 46s 10. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 65h 38m 43s Other X-raid crew TBA. René Kuipers (NL)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 73h 00m 16s


- Yvette Theisen -