One-Two-Three for Volkswagen - Third Stage Win for Al-Attiyah

BOTANY, AUSTRALIA – January 12, 2010: Volkswagen claim first three positions on stage, three “Blues” head overall standings: The TDI diesel powered Race Touareg continued to set the benchmark on the ninth of the 14-day long 2010 Dakar Rally. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) claimed the day’s victory on the route between Copiapó and La Serena in Chile ahead of their team mates Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D). Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) recorded the fifth fastest time in another Race Touareg behind the French X-raid driver Guerlain Chicherit in a BMW. Carlos Sainz continues to lead the overall standings from Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller.

Of particular interest: In the process of taking Volkswagen’s fourth stage victory this year Nasser Al-Attiyah’s winning margin of 5 minutes 59 seconds represented the largest lead for the winner of a stage during the 2010 Dakar Rally. The rally professional from Qatar achieved this notable performance on the shortest stage so far, which ran, however, through difficult dune fields in the Atacama Desert. The original 354 kilometre long section was reduced by more than half to only 170 kilometres. The organisers postponed the start by 3 hours 45 minutes due to isolated fogbanks.