VW gets Dakar 1-2

Volkswagen has secured its place in Dakar Rally history, albeit without setting foot in Dakar itself. The VW Touareg TDI has become the first diesel competitor to take top honours at the grueling off-road race, the team celebrating a one-two finish in Buenos Aires.

Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz piloted home the winning Touareg with a time of 48 hours, 10 minutes and 57 seconds. A second shy of nine minutes behind was the thrum of another VW TDI, with Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford clinching the Volkswagen double.

The third placed Hummer team was still more than an hour and three quarters away. It marks the first time the Dakar rally has been staged away from its African homeland, the event being moved to Argentina and Chile due to difficult political times along the usual route and an unwelcome risk to drivers taking part.

The victorious De Villiers was particularly chuffed. ‘I am so happy to have clinched it for Volkswagen. This victory is worth more to me than any of the titles I won in touring car racing. The key to our success was the Race Touareg, which ran like a charm throughout, and I want to thank everyone at Volkswagen for that. I won the first Dakar Rally not staged in Africa, and it was the toughest event I have ever contested: definitely a genuine Dakar Rally.’

The event wasn’t without controversy, however, with the death of motorcyclist Pascal Terry. He was found seated and in shade, 50 feet from his Yamaha WR450F, although an autopsy confirmed he died of natural causes and was uninjured. The Dakar has been plagued by incidents over the years with a number of drivers and spectators killed, with the move to South America also seen to try and iron out non-competitor deaths by moving the race to a more remote route.