Carlos Sainz takes lead with Volkswagen

Zetavision Rally Dakar (Special Volkswagen Motorsport)

Wolfsburg (02 January 2011). The Dakar Rally started with the first stage win for Volkswagen. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) are leading the desert classic in the Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 after the first of 14 legs by 1m 31s ahead of X-raid BMW driver Stéphane Peterhansel.




The team colleagues of last year’s winners made a good showing on the 788-kilometre stage between Victoria and Córdoba in Argentina as well. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) finished the gravel stage in rain as the third-best contenders with a gap of 2m 16s. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) followed in fourth place with a 4m 17s gap. The Volkswagen foursome at the front of the field was completed by Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) in fifth place overall and a gap of 5m 06s.

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)

"Today we experienced a superb performance of our drivers and co-drivers. The cars are perfectly prepared. I’m happy to see all of our team members working with absolute concentration at the start of the rally and not allowing themselves to get distracted by the huge crowd nor by the pressure caused by the expectations of the journalists.

The conditions on the first leg were very difficult due to the large amount of water on the track. It’s hard to judge who was most heavily affected by this. With four cars among the top five Volkswagen experienced a tremendous start. Obviously, we’re going to continue our work on Monday and on the following legs highly motivated in order to master the upcoming tasks.”


director@rallydakar.org
prensa@rallydakar.org