Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz Team In The Dakar Rally

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on January 11, 2006 at 12:25 PM CST

Yesterday marked the completion of the longest stage of the Dakar  
Rally for the Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz team, a 543 mile jaunt that  
wrapped up in South Mauritania's Kiffa.

Through the first two-thirds of the stage, Lohr and her team  
performed beautifully, completing the second and third checkpoints in  
16th and 29th place, respectively.  But as anyone familiar with the  
Dakar Rally knows, it only takes a split second for things to go from  
great to terrible.

Between the third stage and the end of the special stage, Lohr and  
her co-pilot Detlef Ruf were suddenly stopped by a hole as big as  
car. Both the M-Class prototype's front and rear became stuck deep in  
the sand, which in turn took Lohr and Ruf costly time to shovel the  
car free and battle their way to the finish. Despite the setback, the  
pair finished the stage in 43rd position.

Here's what Lohr had to say about the course:  "It was an eventful  
special stage. We suffered two punctures and got stuck four times.  
Furthermore, we re-erected a Nissan that had somersaulted and helped  
two motorbike drivers. And then, we drove into the deep hole, in the  
dark. This stage was really awkward and I'm truly happy that it's over."

The Kwikpower Mercedes team is currently sitting in 53rd position,  
with the eleventh stage taking place as we speak.   We'll keep you  
posted as the race progresses.

For more info, you can check out the Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz team's  
full press release along with great photos by clicking the link below.

http://www.emercedesbenz.com/ 
Jan06/11Update4KwikpowerMercedesBenzInDakarRally.html

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Nightshift for Ellen Lohr and the ORC racing team

Kiffa/Mauritania – For Ellen Lohr and her co-pilot, Detlef Ruf, the  
longest leg of the 2006 Dakar Rally (874 kilometres) ended in the  
middle of the night between 9th and 10th January. The pairing and  
their M-Class prototype arrived at the leg's finish, in South  
Mauritania's Kiffa, at 02.30hrs, having completed the longest and  
most demanding special stage of the entire event. The first two  
thirds of the marathon stage – completed at day time – went just  
great. Lohr and Ruf passed the second checkpoint in 16th position and  
at the third, they held 29th place. But between the third, the so- 
called ‘CP', and the end of the special stage, the advance of the duo  
was suddenly stopped by a hole as big as car. Both the M-Class' front  
and rear stuck deep in the sand, and it took Lohr and Ruf a lot of  
time to shovel the car free and battle their way to the finish.  
Still, they finished the stage in 43rd position.
Ellen Lohr: “It was an eventful special stage. We suffered two  
punctures and got stuck four times. Furthermore, we re-erected a  
Nissan that had somersaulted and helped two motorbike drivers. And  
then, we drove into the deep hole, in the dark. This stage was really  
awkward and I'm truly happy that it's over.”

When Lohr and Ruf arrived at the bivouac, at 02.30hrs, 17 hours had  
gone by since their start into the leg. And while they finally could  
rest, their arrival meant the beginning of another nightshift for the  
service crew of the close to Stuttgart based ORC racing team. The  
Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz squad leader is Andreas Lennartz, who  
designed the rally prototype as ORC's designing engineer and also  
drives the Actros 6x6 – the mobile workshop of the team – during the  
Dakar Rally. Lennartz and the mechanics, Karsten Buckelt, Vitalij Ruf  
and Sebastian Harmsen, started to work on the car right away. “We  
changed the transfer gear and a leaking shock absorber at the left  
rear wheel, repaired the damaged front and some other bagatelles,”  
said Lennartz. “Furthermore, we made a complete check-up as the car  
must be well prepared when Ellen starts into leg ten, at 12.00hrs.”  
But the ORC crew wasn't the only one that was busy throughout the  
night. Everywhere in the bivouac, you could see teams forging and  
melding on their cars.

According to the organisers, the competitors will need about 11 hours  
to complete today's ‘short' 300-kilometre stage from Kiffa to Kayes,  
Mali. And the support cars also will have to cope with an exhausting  
challenge. Just as it was the case in the sixth and the seventh legs,  
the entire Mercedes-Benz service fleet, the Actros 6x6, the high- 
capacity van Viano 4Matic and the Mercedes-Benz M-Class for the  
journalists will also have to go off-road, today. At the end of the  
day, the rally also represents a true endurance test for these cars  
and their crews.

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