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Third consecutive leg win for Volkswagen Race Touareg
Wolfsburg (22 April 2008). Successful on sometimes stony, sometimes
soft soil, narrow roads and challenging terrain: having secured the
three of three possible leg wins, the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2
remains undefeated, in the Central Europe Rally. Giniel de
Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (RSA/D) prevailed in the third leg of this
new event on the cross-country rally calendar, taking the field from
Baia Mare (Romania) to Debrecen (Hungary). They now hold fifth postion
in the overall standings. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk (D/D)
finished sixth in the leg, thus working their way up to second
position in the overall standings, some two minutes behind the current
leader, Mitsubishi’s Stéphane Peterhansel. Despite a tyre puncture,
Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz (P/D) defended their ninth position in the
overall rankings, with their Race Touareg entered by customer team
Lagos.
Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), however, encountered several problems
in leg three. Due to a broken gearshift lever, the reigning overall
FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup winners lost valuable time during
the first special stage but in the second, they proved to be the
quickest but dropped back to eighth place in the overall standings,
nevertheless. Furthermore, Sainz/Périn were hampered by limited vision
in the muddy sections the competitors had to cope with at the
beginning of the special stage. Hence, they couldn’t avoid getting
involved in an incident. Hiroshi Masuoka and his co-driver, Pascal
Maimon, had stopped at the trackside to change a tyre. Maimon suffered
a foot injury and had to retire afterwards.
Leg three featured two special stages held around Baia Mare to then
take the competitors back to Hungary, to the city of Debrecen. From
there, the Wednesday route will feature a total mileage of 580
kilometres to Veszprem, including 150 special-stage kilometres. While
covering the distance, the teams will have to cope with increasingly
sandy conditions.
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What the drivers reported after the end of leg 3.
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"The third leg win demonstrates the outstanding competitiveness of the
Race Touareg. Yet, despite the success secured by Giniel de Villiers and
Dirk von Zitzewitz, we can’t be completely happy with the third leg.
Things like the broken gearshift lever of Carlos Sainz’ car just mustn’t
happen. This component’s reliability has been tested over the three-time
Dakar distance and never caused a problem, to date. Still: we needn’t
worry about the competitiveness of our cars and consequently, the
chances of a Volkswagen holding the top position at the end of the rally
are looking good.”
#201 – Carlos Sainz (E), 8th place (leg) / 8th place overall
"The fastest time we set in the second special stage demonstrated what
would have been possible for us today. In special stage one, however, we
had to cope with a dose of bad luck. The gearshift lever broke and we
had to cover more than half the distance in second gear. Then, we
injured Pascal Maimon when he had to change a tyre at a narrow place. An
incident that happened although we were driving at walking speed and
extremely carefully. I’m awfully sorry that the two have been forced
into retirement, on this account.”
#203 – Giniel de Villiers (RSA), 1st place (leg) / 5th place overall
"I’m truly delighted with having won today’s leg. But that’s
cross-country rallying. Yesterday, we had bad luck and lost a lot of
time due to a minor problem. Today, we made up for some of the lost
ground. A situation underlining that everything is possible until the
event is over. The entire squad fights hard and gives its very best.
There are a lot of special-stage kilometres to be covered until Saturday
– and you will have to wait until then to know the outcome.”
#209 – Carlos Sousa (P), 9th place (leg) / 9th place overall
"We made a good start into the first special stage. We changed some
set-up adjustments and these changes clearly improved our traction when
it comes to exiting tight corners. Unfortunately, we lost about three
minutes when suffering a tyre puncture in special stage two.”
#213 – Dieter Depping (D), 6th place (leg) / 2nd place overall
"Today, we again could rely on perfect equipment. No matter on which
terrain, I always feel comfortable in the Race Touareg. A fact that has
been demonstrated by the three leg wins secured by Volkswagen. I think,
my co-driver Timo Gottschalk and I again set a good time and now, we
even moved up to second position in the overall ranking. I’ll try to
keep my pace consistently throughout the event. Then, everything can be
possible in this demanding event.”
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- Source
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http://www.volkswagen-motorsport.com
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