Dakar Rally 2009

The Dakar Rally 2009 was the 31st event of the Dakar Rally , but only the 30th Dakar Rally that actually took place.

This was preceded by the cancellation of the 2008 Dakar Rally due to terror threats. As a consequence of the terror threats and the subsequent cancellation of the rally, the Dakar Rally in 2009 no longer took place in Africa, but in South America.

The rally started on January 3, 2009 in Buenos Aires and ended there on January 18, 2009. A total of around 9,000 km had to be covered, with the rally going through Argentina and Chile .

overview

The Amaury Sport Organization was the organizer of the rally. The rally leader was the Frenchman Etienne Lavigne .

500 teams from 50 nations started the rally, including 217 with motorcycles , 25 with quads , 177 with automobiles and 81 with trucks . A total of 837 drivers took part.

The 2009 Dakar Rally in South America met with an unexpectedly high level of spectator interest. Sometimes there were up to a million spectators on the route during one stage.

The organizers of the Dakar Rally wanted to create a rally that was at least equal to those in Africa, so that the impression was not created that it was not a “real” Dakar Rally. However, it turned out that the rally was going to be tougher than planned. Motorcyclists often had to spend the night in the dunes because they couldn't make it to the bivouac during the day . Due to heavy rain showers, many of the slopes became impassable even for off-road vehicles, so that almost every stage had to be shortened in the second week.

The overall winner among automobiles was the de Viliers / von Zitzewitz team on the Race Touareg from Volkswagen Motorsport .

route

Stages

The rally began with a show event in Buenos Aires on January 2nd, which attracted over 500,000 spectators. The entire race distance was 9,578 kilometers, of which 5,652 were counted. There was a day of rest in Valparaíso on January 10th . Ten stages were held in Argentina and three in Chile.

The stages at the beginning took place on gravel roads in the pampas , which were mainly driven over the estates of the farmers living there. In the course of the rally, the Andes were also crossed on roads up to 4,000 meters high, and the Atacama Desert with the largest sand dunes in the world was driven.

The eleventh stage was canceled due to severe storms. In the case of the trucks, the seventh stage was converted into a transfer stage, as they could not compete under the prevailing weather conditions.

stage	date	From	To	connection	Rating	connection	total
				km	km	km	km
1	January 3rd	Buenos Aires	Santa Rosa	196	371	166	733
2	January 4th	Santa Rosa	Puerto Madryn	0	237	600	837
3	January 5th	Puerto Madryn	Jacobacci	70	616	8th	694
4th	6th January	Jacobacci	Neuquén	4th	459	25th	488
5	January 7th	Neuquén	San Rafael	173	506	84	763
6th	January 8th	San Rafael	Mendoza	76	395	154	625
7th	January 9th	Mendoza	Valparaíso	80	419	317	816
10. January	Rest day in Valparaíso
8th	11th January	Valparaíso	La Serena	245	294	113	652
9	January 12th	La Serena	Copiapó	88	449	0	537
10	13th January	Copiapó	Copiapó	20th	666	0	686
11	January 14th	Copiapó	Fiambalá	20th	215	445	680
12	15. January	Fiambalá	La Rioja	4th	253	261	518
13	January 16	La Rioja	Cordoba	161	545	47	753
14th	January 17th	Cordoba	Buenos Aires	224	227	341	792

Attendees

motorcycles

217 motorcyclists started the rally. The motorcycle class was dominated by the large 690 KTM .

KTM was the only works team in the rally. It now wanted to promote customer sport more and only used five factory motorcycles. The biggest favorites for the overall win were Marc Coma , the 2006 Dakar winner, and two-time Dakar winner and defending champion Cyril Despres . In all likelihood, these drivers would make the overall victory among themselves. Coma's noble helper Jordi Viladoms , who has already won a stage , was also an option for stage wins . The other drivers of the team, Alain Duclos and Gerard Farrés Guell, limited their activities to supporting their captains and would intervene less in the fight for daily victories .

The strongest private team was Vectra Racing around the former works driver David Casteu . He had big plans and also wanted to intervene in the battle for overall victory. The Dutchman Frans Verhoeven and the Chilean Francisco López Contardo were also not to be underestimated and would at least be able to compete for daily victories.

Several ambitious private drivers also started, including the American Jonah Street , the Portuguese Hélder Rodrigues , the Norwegian Pål Anders Ullevålseter and the French David Frétigné .

Frétigné was the only one of the top riders who tried his luck on a machine other than a KTM. He competed with his small 450cc Yamaha . This would lose time on fast passages, but could take advantage of the lower weight in the dunes and on long stretches. The 450 Yamaha is easier to get out of the sand if you get stuck and it puts less strain on the tires, which reduces the risk of tire damage.

Automobiles

177 automobile drivers started the rally. The favorites for the overall victory were the works teams from Volkswagen and Mitsubishi .

After the Volkswagen Motorsport team of head of sport Kris Nissen achieved good placings several times in recent years and often had the fastest vehicles in the field, but never achieved an overall victory, it was the top favorite at the 2009 Dakar Rally. The head of the team was the former world rally champion Carlos Sainz , who took part in the rally for the third time. The South African Giniel de Villiers was only narrowly beaten in 2006 and this time was again one of the secret favorites. Furthermore, the German Dieter Depping and the American Mark Miller drove in the team , but both only with outsider chances for the overall victory. With the VW Race Touareg II, Volkswagen relied on a very sophisticated vehicle in order to largely avoid technical problems. The vehicle is powered by a three-liter, five-cylinder TDI with 280 hp and 600 Nm of torque.

Ralliart , the Mitsubishi works team that has consistently won the rally since 2001, was again one of the top favorites at this rally. The team's captain was nine-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel . He was supported by his team-mates Luc Alphand , Hiroshi Masuoka and Nani Roma , who together also achieved three Dakar victories and could have intervened in the battle for the top position again at this rally. In order to meet the demands of the South American slopes, the team now also had to construct a diesel vehicle. For example, Mitsubishi competed for the first time in the 2009 Dakar Rally with the new Racing Lancer , which replaced the old gasoline- powered Pajero Evolution . The output of the three-liter V6 diesel powered by four turbochargers is 280 hp, 25 more than the old gasoline engine. The vehicle increased its torque particularly well by increasing from 412 to 650 Nm. At the same time, the vehicle's fuel consumption fell. Nevertheless, an overall victory was considered questionable, as the vehicle had not yet been tested and the reliability would have to be proven in the course of the rally.

BMW X3 from Orlando Terranova

With 80 men and six BMW X3 CC, Sven Quandt's private, but highly professional, X-Raid team provided the largest group. Previously an outsider, this time the team started the rally with serious ambitions for overall victory. The top rider of the team was former Dakar stage winner and reigning marathon rally world champion Nasser Al-Attiyah . In addition, the talented Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit wanted to compete for overall victory in the rally for the first time. The team's captains received support from four drivers who also wanted to prove themselves: the Argentinian local hero Orlando Terranova , the Russian Leonid Novitskiy and the two Dutchmen Peter van Merksteijn and Rene Kuipers . The BMW X3 CC are powered by three-liter, six-cylinder turbo diesels that were designed by engineers at the BMW development center in Steyr. These produce up to 291 hp and have a maximum torque of 640 Nm. The performance advantage gives the vehicles a top speed advantage of five kilometers per hour, which they were able to take advantage of on the numerous fast sections. The team therefore benefited from the new route profile with few dunes and many high-speed sections.

At best, the American Robby Gordon had outsider opportunities in his private Hummer H3 . His vehicle is a completely different design than that of the top teams. The vehicle is based on the Baja regulations and may therefore have extremely long suspension travel, but only rear-wheel drive. The seven-liter V8 petrol engine also corresponds to the opposite of the other engines. With this vehicle, Robby Gordon would have been able to demonstrate its advantages over the other vehicles in the dunes. However, on the long, straight passages, he had to cut back on top speed.

Team principal Grégoire De Mévius's small Overdrive Racing team also started the race with no prospect of greater success . The drivers of the team were the rally driver and MEP Krzysztof Hołowczyc and the extreme mountaineer Ivar Erik Tollefsen . The team drove on the Nissan Navara , which are used by Nissan in the South African Offroad Championship . These are powered by four-liter V6 petrol engines with 290 hp. The team's chances were the reliability of the sophisticated vehicles and the fact that the top teams could get into trouble on the unfamiliar terrain.

The German Matthias Kahle started this Dakar Rally again in his buggy with a Honda engine. He had no chance to get among the front runners, but made a top 15 finish as his goal.

Former motorcycle top rider Isidre Esteve Pujol took part in the Dakar Rally for the first time after his serious fall in March 2007, which left him in a wheelchair. He started in a SsangYong Kyron in the production car class.

Other well-known participants were the WTCC pilots Yvan Muller and Tom Coronel .

Trucks

In the case of the trucks, of which 81 started the rally, it seemed to be a battle between the Dutch and the Russians again.

One of the top favorites was the KAMAZ factory team with its drivers Vladimir Tschagin , Firdaus Kabirow and Ilgizar Mardeev . Tschagin has already won five times, Kabirow once.

The second works team was MAN with its captain and defending champion Hans Stacey . His goal was to win the rally again this year. His helper was MAN development manager Franz Echter .

The de Rooys started again in the 2009 Dakar Rally on their self-built Ginaf truck. This time, however, not with the former Dakar winner Jan de Rooy at the wheel, but with his son Gerard de Rooy .

Also not to be underestimated were the Czech Tatra driver Aleš Loprais , nephew of the six-time Dakar winner Karel Loprais , and the Dutch Ginaf Rally Power team around its captains Wulfert van Ginkel and Marcel van Vliet .

Race course

Stage 1

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	02:46:17
2	Jacek Czachor	KTM 690	+00: 22: 05
3	Miran Stanovnik	KTM LC 4 rally	+00: 24: 42
4th	Frans Verhoeven	KTM 690 rally	+00: 26: 14
5	Jonah Street	KTM 690	+00: 26: 22

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Christophe Declerck	Yamaha Raptor	04:00:16
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 12: 56
3	Luis Henderson	Suzuki LTR 450	+00: 15: 50

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah Tina Thörner	BMW X3 CC	02:36:15
2	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 02: 17
3	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 02: 40
4th	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 04: 21
5	Luc Alphand Gilles Picard	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 04: 44

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marcel van Vliet Herman Vaanholt Gerard van Veenendaal	GINAF X2222	03:15:07
2	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 00: 02
3	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 00: 22
4th	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 02: 00
5	Aleš Loprais Vojtěch Štajf Milan Holáň	Tatra 815-2 ZO R45 12.400	+00: 02: 45

On his 690 KTM, Marc Coma was able to pull out a 22-minute lead over the competition, led by Jacek Czachor , right from the first stage . He also benefited from the punctures of his biggest competitors Cyril Despres and David Casteu, who opted for the wrong material. Despres lost around 41 minutes as a result, Casteu even over an hour.

The car classification was won by Nasser Al-Attiyah from the X-Raid team. His team-mate Guerlain Chicherit was also very fast, but lost any chance of overall victory with a rollover. The German Dieter Depping lost about an hour due to electronic problems in his VW Race Touareg. The other factory VWs finished the stage in positions two to four. Mitsubishi was weaker than expected. Luc Alphand and Stéphane Peterhansel were already almost five minutes behind after the first stage. In addition, Hiroshi Masuoka, a contender for overall victory, had to end the rally early. Local hero Orlando Terranova, who finished seventh with his BMW X3, was a surprise.

Marcel van Vliet won the truck classification two seconds ahead of Gerard de Rooy. Vladimir Chagin lost over three minutes, even though he was initially quick.

Stage 2

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Frans Verhoeven	KTM 690 rally	02:14:48
2	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+00: 00: 41
3	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 01: 04
4th	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 33
5	Jonah Street	KTM 690	+00: 01: 51

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Christophe Declerck	Yamaha Raptor	02:55:58
2	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 02: 40
3	Rafal Sonic	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 03: 23

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	01:56:14
2	Stéphane Peterhansel Jean-Paul Cottret	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 01: 14
3	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 01: 56
4th	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 02: 48
5	Luc Alphand Gilles Picard	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 03: 54

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	02:21:42
2	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 02: 00
3	Marcel van Vliet Herman Vaanholt Gerard van Veenendaal	GINAF X2222	+00: 08: 38
4th	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 09: 22
5	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 19: 46

Frans Verhoeven won the second stage ahead of Cyril Despres by 41 seconds. David Frétigné was able to surprise by reaching the finish with his defeated 450cc Yamaha just a minute after Verhoeven. Marc Coma struggled with technical problems, but remained in the lead with a lead of almost 14 minutes in the overall standings.

Former rally world champion Carlos Sainz decided the stage for himself and at the same time took the lead in the overall standings. He benefited from the fact that Al-Attiyah's co-driver Tina Thörner navigated himself and he lost almost seven minutes as a result. Stéphane Peterhansel finished second, a minute behind Sainz, and was thus able to exploit the potential of the new Mitsubishi Racing Lancer for the first time.

Gerard de Rooy and his Ginaf were able to beat the second-placed KAMAZ driver Firdaus Kabirow by almost four minutes and took the lead in the truck classification. Defending champion Hans Stacey was already well over an hour behind at this point in the race.

Stage 3

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	05:18:17
2	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	KTM 690 rally	+00: 17: 49
3	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 17: 49
4th	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 18: 16
5	Gerard Farrés Guell	KTM 690 rally	+00: 18: 42

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	06:41:59
2	Christophe Declerck	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 01: 47
3	Joan Manuel Gonzalez	Yamaha Raptor 700	+00: 12: 55

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah Tina Thörner	BMW X3 CC	04:29:27
2	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 00: 35
3	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 01: 40
4th	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 04: 01
5	Stéphane Peterhansel Jean-Paul Cottret	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 05: 31

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	05:15:59
2	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 03: 24
3	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 07: 12
4th	Wulfert van Ginkel Willem Tijsterman Richard de Rooy	GINAF X2222	+00: 16: 01
5	Hans Stacey Charly Gotlib Bernard The Children	MAN TGS 18.480	+00: 18: 05

Marc Coma was victorious again on the third stage and was able to increase his lead significantly. Jordi Viladoms and Pal Anders Ullevalseter followed in second place, almost 18 minutes behind the day's winner. Cyril Despres had to deal with punctured tires again and was already over 90 minutes behind after the third stage. David Frétigné was able to work his way up to second place in the overall standings.

Nasser Al-Attiyah decided the stage for himself again and made up 35 seconds on the overall ranking leader Carlos Sainz. Sainz's lead was still just under four minutes after the third stage. Luc Alphand, on the other hand, lost more than half an hour due to a leak in the fuel tank and was now too far behind in the overall standings to be able to intervene in the fight in the overall standings.

Vladimir Chagin won the truck category. In the overall standings, Gerard de Rooy continued to lead ahead of Tschagin's team-mate Kabirow.

Stage 4

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	04:09:32
2	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 17
3	Jonah Street	KTM 690	+00: 01: 21
4th	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 04: 31
5	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 07: 37

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Joan Manuel Gonzalez	Yamaha Raptor 700	05:18:33
2	Christophe Declerck	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 16: 18
3	Eric Carlini	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 18: 59

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	03:42:57
2	Nasser Al-Attiyah Tina Thörner	BMW X3 CC	+00: 00: 06
3	Luc Alphand Gilles Picard	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 02: 24
4th	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 04: 20
5	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 05: 38

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	04:20:27
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 00: 46
3	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 04: 55
4th	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 08: 52
5	Franz Echter Detlef Ruf Artur Klein	MAN TGS 18.480	+00: 13: 30

Marc Coma was also fastest again on the fourth stage. He secured the day's victory over Cyril Despres and Jonah Street by over a minute. In the overall standings there was a duel for second place between Street and Frétigné behind Coma.

In the automobile championship, the day's victory went to Carlos Sainz again with a lead of just six seconds over Al-Attiyah. The Mitsubishi drivers once again lost a lot of time. All of the team’s drivers were now more than 15 minutes behind in the overall standings.

In the trucks category, de Rooy was able to win the stage again.

Stage 5

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Jonah Street	KTM 690	06:41:06
2	Frans Verhoeven	KTM 690 rally	+00: 05: 53
3	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 07: 34
4th	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 09: 36
5	Hélder Rodrigues	KTM 690 rally	+00: 10: 35

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Joan Manuel Gonzalez	Yamaha Raptor 700	08:52:38
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 24: 06
3	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	+01: 11: 38

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	05:47:43
2	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 02: 18
3	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+00: 04: 12
4th	Nasser Al-Attiyah Tina Thörner	BMW X3 CC	+00: 05: 23
5	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 08: 59

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	06:43:56
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 12: 19
3	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 12: 28
4th	Tomáš Tomeček Vojtěch Morávek Radomír Smolka	Tatras 815	+00: 53: 24
5	Franz Echter Detlef Ruf Artur Klein	MAN TGS 18.480	+00: 56: 01

The favorites Coma and Despres were both held up for around 20 minutes by punctures. Jonah Street was able to benefit from this as it enabled him to win the first stage in the rally. He was able to clearly distance the second placed Frans Verhoeven and Francisco Lopez.

Dieter Depping was the fastest over a large part of the route. Ultimately, however, the victory went to his teammate Giniel de Villiers. Depping came second, followed by the American Robby Gordon in his Hummer. Al-Attiyah was able to make up a good ten minutes of ground on Sainz and thus again took the lead in the overall standings. His spare parts carrier Peter van Merksteijn dropped out because his vehicle caught fire.

The stage win in trucks went to Kabirow. This put him in second place in the overall standings ahead of his team-mate Tschagin and was now only 13 seconds behind the leader de Rooy.

Stage 6

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	02:03:20
2	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 02: 09
3	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 05: 15
4th	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 09: 41
5	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 10:30

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	02:49:47
2	Joan Manuel Gonzalez	Yamaha Raptor 700	+00: 10: 04
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 15: 14

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	02:12:33
2	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 00: 20
3	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 03: 30
4th	Stéphane Peterhansel Jean-Paul Cottret	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 08: 07
5	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 09: 13

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	02:31:58
2	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 00: 20
3	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 25: 53
4th	Martin Van Den Brink Pieter Stijkel Erwin Lagerweij	GINAF X2222	+00: 55: 37
5	Pep Vila Roca Moisès Torrallardona Joachim Busoms	Mercedes 1844-AK	+01: 28: 40

Cyril Despres was able to achieve his first stage win in the 2009 Dakar Rally on the sixth stage. He took Marc Coma a good two minutes, but was still an hour and a half behind in the overall standings. Coma's lead over runner-up, Jonah Street, was over 40 minutes since Street crossed the finish line fifteen minutes after Coma. Third is still Frétigné.

Al-Attiyah was the fastest driver, but at the beginning he drove a different route than the specified, as he was struggling with radiator problems and therefore did not want to overload his damaged vehicle. However, his victory was subsequently revoked and Al-Attiyah was disqualified for missing nine checkpoints, although only four are allowed. With that, the X-Raid team lost its only contender for overall victory and from then on only played a supporting role. Giniel de Villiers was subsequently crowned the winner despite being five minutes behind Al-Attiyah. Mark Miller finished second, 20 seconds behind his team-mate. In the overall standings, the South African de Villiers is now leading for the first time with almost eight minutes ahead of the Spaniard Sainz. Luc Alphand had to give up as the second Mitsubishi driver because his co-driver Gilles Picard collapsed out of a swamp during a rescue operation and had to be taken to hospital. The French Christian Lavieille was also very unlucky because his vehicle burned down.

Gerard de Rooy lost the lead in the truck classification as he reached the finish on the stage with just under 26 minutes behind Kabirow. De Rooy slipped to third place in the overall standings behind Kabirow and Tschagin.

Stage 7

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	02:36:09
2	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 03: 57
3	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+00: 05: 21
4th	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 08: 58
5	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 14: 07

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	03:41:37
2	Luis Henderson	Suzuki LTR 450	+00: 14: 01
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 21: 05

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	02:35:27
2	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 03: 41
3	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+00: 04: 13
4th	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 05: 37
5	Guerlain Chicherit Matthieu Baumel	BMW X3 CC	+00: 06: 08

The Chilean Francisco Lopez achieved his first stage win in the Dakar Rally on the stage that ended in his home country Chile. In the overall standings, Frétigné took the lead behind the leader Coma ahead of Street.

Carlos Sainz recorded his third day win in the rally. On Mark Miller and Robby Gordon he was able to get around four minutes. He also sat in the overall standings with a lead of just nine seconds over de Villiers, who lost ground to Sainz on the stage over seven minutes. Stéphane Peterhansel had problems with the overheating engine of his Mitsubishi. After he had to put out a fire twice, the engine broke down a short time later and Peterhansel was forced to give up. This meant that only Nani Roma's factory Mitsubishi was still in the race, but already half an hour behind.

Stage 8

motorcycle

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	04:07:39
2	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 49
3	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 02: 56
4th	Alain Duclos	KTM 690 rally	+00: 12: 39
5	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 13: 12

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	04:49:24
2	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	+00: 02: 51
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 07: 00

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	03:47:19
2	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 04: 02
3	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 04: 12
4th	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 04: 15
5	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 10: 48

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	02:47:33
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 01: 42
3	Aleš Loprais Vojtěch Štajf Milan Holáň	Tatra 815-2 ZO R45 12.400	+00: 02: 12
4th	André De Azevedo Majkel Justo Jaromir Martinec	Tatras 815	+00: 06: 00
5	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 07: 34

On the first stage after the rest day, the Frenchman Despres won with just under two minutes ahead of Coma and just under three minutes ahead of Lopez. Despres was able to move up ahead of Jonah Street in the overall standings, but was still over 90 minutes behind Coma.

Former WRC driver Carlos Sainz benefited from the track-like character of the track . He was able to decide the stage for himself and run a good four minutes on Depping and Miller. De Villers lost ten minutes on Sainz. It is noteworthy that Matthias Kahle backed up the last 18 kilometers because all forward gears failed due to a gearbox damage.

In the trucks category, de Rooy was able to claim another stage win. He was followed by Tschagin, one minute 42 seconds back. Defending champion Hans Stacey gave up the race.

Stage 9

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Frans Verhoeven	KTM 690 rally	06:26:33
2	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 03: 09
3	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 04: 59
4th	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+00: 06: 03
5	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 08: 40

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	08:20:54
2	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	+00: 00: 39
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 17: 26

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	05:56:08
2	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 01: 47
3	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+00: 02: 16
4th	Orlando Terranova Alain Guehennec	BMW X3 CC	+00: 10: 06
5	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 12: 01

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	07:02:04
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 00: 30
3	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 16: 59
4th	André De Azevedo Majkel Justo Jaromir Martinec	Tatras 815	+00: 25: 27
5	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 35: 58

In the meantime, David Frétigné was the fastest motorcyclist. In the dunes at the end of the stage, however, he left some time behind so that the Dutchman Frans Verhoeven could celebrate his second day's victory in the rally. Frétigné and Lopez followed behind him, more than three minutes behind. Jonah Street was forced to surrender due to a wrist injury.

Carlos Sainz was also able to win again on the ninth stage. Miller and Gordon followed behind, about two minutes behind. Orlando Terranova achieved another very good result with his fourth place. Nani Roma, on the other hand, navigated himself and only reached the finish just 25 minutes behind Sainz. With that he lost his last chance for the overall victory, because he was now almost an hour behind.

Vladimir Tschagin was the fastest truck driver with a margin of 24 minutes over the Brazilian André de Azevedo . However, the times of Kabirow and de Rooy were subsequently changed, as they stopped for minutes to help a truck team that had crashed. As a result, Kabirow was subsequently named the winner.

Stage 10

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	06:35:26
2	Alain Duclos	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 06
3	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	KTM 690 rally	+00: 02: 07
4th	Hélder Rodrigues	KTM 690 rally	+00: 08: 29
5	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 08: 44

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	08:20:30
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 00: 28
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 52: 38

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Sainz Michel Périn	VW Race Touareg II	05:32:55
2	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+00: 00: 21
3	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 07: 39
4th	Guerlain Chicherit Matthieu Baumel	BMW X3 CC	+00: 12: 25
5	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 15: 01

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	05:14:40
2	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 01: 43
3	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 03: 56
4th	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 32: 10
5	Aleš Loprais Vojtěch Štajf Milan Holáň	Tatra 815-2 ZO R45 12.400	+00: 32: 37

Coma's team-mate Jordi Viladoms scored his first stage win at the 2009 Dakar Rally. Alain Duclos followed, about a minute behind, and the Portuguese Hélder Rodrigues, eight and a half minutes behind. They benefited from Despres, Coma, and Lopez getting lost. David Frétigné lost even more time and so Coma's cushion on him was already over 80 minutes in the overall standings.

Carlos Sainz won the automobile championship for the fourth time in a row. Robby Gordon missed his first stage win by just 21 seconds. Nani Roma was slowed down by the threat of engine overheating and lost a quarter of an hour. Mark Miller and Giniel de Villiers were now well behind Sainz in the overall standings. Miller's deficit was over 27 minutes, de Villier's deficit even more than 41 minutes. Orlando Terranova had to give up the rally due to some rollover caused by a driving error. At this stage there was a strange situation that literally two Germans met in the desert. Matthias Kahle got stuck in the sand with his buggy on the descent from a dune. Dieter Depping could not see him on the driveway to the dune and therefore steered in the same direction as Kahle. When Depping crossed the dune, he could no longer steer his vehicle off course because he was sliding down the dune. He met Kahle in the stern. Fortunately, no one was injured and the vehicles remained largely undamaged, so that both of them could continue the rally without any problems.

Tschagin won the truck classification. Second place went to de Rooy, one minute 44 seconds behind, followed by Tschagin's team-mate Kabirow, four minutes behind.

Stage 12

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	03:57:37
2	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 23
3	Gerard Farrés Guell	KTM 690 rally	+00: 09: 47
4th	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 09: 51
5	Francisco Lopez	KTM 690 rally	+00: 10: 16

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	04:42:58
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 35: 56
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 36: 02

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	04:06:43
2	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 16: 17
3	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+00: 25: 27
4th	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 42: 02
5	Leonid Novitskiy Oleg Tyupenkin	BMW X3 CC	+00: 55: 25

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	04:39:49
2	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 01: 47
3	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 24: 40
4th	Wulfert van Ginkel Willem Tijsterman Richard de Rooy	GINAF X2222	+01: 10: 40
5	André De Azevedo Majkel Justo Jaromir Martinec	Tatras 815	+01: 31: 09

On the twelfth stage, the day's victory went to Cyril Despres. At the same time, he made up over ten minutes on David Frétigné, who was struggling with oil problems, and took second place in the overall standings, ahead of Frétigné. Overall, this was the 20th day's success that Despres was able to celebrate on a stage of the Dakar Rally. Marc Coma took it a little slower due to his comfortable lead in the overall standings and reached the goal one minute and 23 seconds after Despres. Third was Gerard Farrés Guell, just under ten minutes behind.

Carlos Sainz, the front runner in the automobile classification, fell into a three-meter-deep ditch and remained on the roof. His co-driver Michel Périn suffered a shoulder injury in the accident and was no longer able to continue. For the team this meant the end of the rally. Giniel de Villiers was able to benefit from his failure as he took the lead in the overall standings with a two-and-a-half minute lead over Mark Miller. He was able to do this mainly because he was able to beat Miller on the 16-minute stage and thus take the lead in the overall standings. His co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz played a major role in the large lead , as he was the quickest to get out of the dunes and thus enabled the large lead. Nani Roma was stuck in the sand for several hours and therefore fell back to tenth place in the overall standings. Robby Gordon took third place.

In the trucks category, Vladimir Tschagin also took the lead in the overall standings after his stage win and was one minute and 33 seconds ahead of Kabirow.

Stage 13

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	02:33:35
2	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	+00: 01: 45
3	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+00: 02: 37
4th	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 03: 52
5	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 03: 55

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Carlos Avendano	Suzuki LTR 450	02:53:12
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 02: 12
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 02: 49

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	02:33:48
2	Krzysztof Hołowczyc Jean-Marc Fortin	Nissan Navara	+00: 07: 18
3	Guerlain Chicherit Matthieu Baumel	BMW X3 CC	+00: 07: 27
4th	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 10: 00
5	Leonid Novitskiy Oleg Tyupenkin	BMW X3 CC	+00: 10: 33

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	03:01:51
2	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 02: 12
3	Franz Echter Detlef Ruf Artur Klein	MAN TGS 18.480	+00: 02: 36
4th	André De Azevedo Majkel Justo Jaromir Martinec	Tatras 815	+00: 02: 47
5	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 04: 33

The day's victory on the 13th stage also went to Despres again. He crossed the finish line one minute and 45 seconds ahead of Coma and two minutes and 47 seconds ahead of Frétigné. The Chilean Lopez unfortunately had to retire on the penultimate stage of the rally because his motorcycle had an engine failure. At first he let himself be pulled by another motorcycle, but broke off the project a little later for safety reasons.

The Volkswagen only had to save their big lead in the overall standings and so the team decided on an unusual tactic. De Villiers and Miller stopped and waited for Dieter Depping. Depping should drive ahead so that a leading Volkswagen does not have an accident due to an unexpected obstacle, as on the previous stage, and is eliminated from the race. Robby Gordon was unable to take advantage of the resulting opportunity to win his first stage because he had to stop for around 20 minutes due to technical problems. Instead, Mitsubishi driver Nani Roma secured the stage win and thus achieved the first success for his team at the 2009 Dakar Rally. He was followed by Pole Holowczyc and French Chicherit, who both gained their WRC experience at the could make use of the rally runway-like route.

Chagin was held up by several small problems and so Kabirow was able to decide the stage for himself. As a result, Kabirow also took the lead in the overall standings with only three minutes ahead of his team-mate. The German Franz Echter finished third behind Gerard de Rooy and thus achieved his first podium finish.

Stage 14

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Hélder Rodrigues	KTM 690 rally	01:42:37
2	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	KTM 690 rally	+00: 02: 07
3	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+00: 02: 41
4th	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+00: 03: 31
5	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+00: 04: 37

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Jose Maria Pena	Yamaha Raptor 700	02:14:23
2	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	+00: 00: 08
3	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+00: 01: 50

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	01:35:43
2	Leonid Novitskiy Oleg Tyupenkin	BMW X3 CC	+00: 00: 02
3	Krzysztof Hołowczyc Jean-Marc Fortin	Nissan Navara	+00: 00: 17
4th	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+00: 00: 38
5	Guerlain Chicherit Matthieu Baumel	BMW X3 CC	+00: 00: 50

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	01:49:56
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 00: 39
3	Franz Echter Detlef Ruf Artur Klein	MAN TGS 18.480	+00: 01: 27
4th	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 02: 19
5	Marcel van Vliet Herman Vaanholt Gerard van Veenendaal	GINAF X2222	+00: 12: 17

Before the start of the final stage, the Portuguese Rodriguez and the Norwegian Ullevalseter were just 44 seconds apart in the overall standings. Therefore, a duel between the two drivers for fifth place began. Hélder Rodrigues won the final stage and maintained his fifth place in the overall standings. Ullevalseter was second behind Rodrigues. Since his rear tires were wearing off at the end of the stage, he lost a good two minutes. Despres was third, just under three minutes behind.

At the beginning of the stage, Guerlain Chicherit, Krzysztof Holowczyc and Leonid Novitskiy fought a close battle for the stage win. In the end, however, the overall leader Giniel de Villiers struck, who sat just two seconds ahead of Novitskiy. The runners-up Holowczyc, Roma and Chicherit were all within a minute of de Villiers.

Firdaus Kabirow also won the final stage of the Dakar Rally. He reached the finish a good three and a half minutes before Tschagin, who had to stop to extinguish his burning brakes.

Final score

motorcycles

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Marc Coma	KTM 690 rally	52:14:33
2	Cyril Despres	KTM 690 rally	+01: 25: 38
3	David Frétigné	Yamaha WRF 450	+01: 38: 56
4th	David Casteu	KTM 690 rally	+02: 17: 54
5	Hélder Rodrigues	KTM 690 rally	+02: 22: 11
6th	Pål Anders Ullevålseter	KTM 690 rally	+02: 25: 02
7th	Jordi Viladoms	KTM 690 rally	+02: 28: 29
8th	Frans Verhoeven	KTM 690 rally	+02: 50: 39
9	Henk Knuiman	KTM 690	+03: 22: 41
10	Paulo Gonçalves	Honda CRF 450 X	04:12:42

Quads

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Josef Macháček	Yamaha Raptor	68:22:06
2	Marcos Patronelli	Can-Am 800	+02: 34: 00
3	Rafal Sonic	Yamaha Raptor	+07: 42: 34
4th	Hubert Deltrieu	Polaris Outlaw 525	+11: 13: 31
5	Oldřich Bražina	Yamaha 660	+15: 59: 51
6th	Carlos Avendano	Suzuki LTR 450	+16: 44: 15

cars

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz	VW Race Touareg II	48:10:57
2	Mark Miller Ralph Pitchford	VW Race Touareg II	+00: 08: 59
3	Robby Gordon Andy Grider	Hummer H3	+01: 46: 15
4th	Ivar Erik Tollefsen Quin Evans	Nissan Navara	+06: 04: 34
5	Krzysztof Hołowczyc Jean-Marc Fortin	Nissan Navara	+06: 37: 49
6th	Dieter Depping Timo Gottschalk	VW Race Touareg II	+08: 43: 29
7th	Miroslav Zapletal Tomas Ourednicek	Mitsubishi L200	+11: 03: 08
8th	Leonid Novitskiy Oleg Tyupenkin	BMW X3 CC	+13: 15: 13
9	Guerlain Chicherit Matthieu Baumel	BMW X3 CC	+14: 49: 49
10	Joan Roma Lucas Cruz Senra	Mitsubishi Racing Lancer	+17: 27: 46
...	...	...	...
15th	Matthias Kahle Thomas Schünemann	Honda Buggy Fast & Speed	+21: 38: 55

Trucks

rank	driver	vehicle	time
1	Firdaus Kabirow Aydar Belyaev Andrei Mokeev	KAMAZ 4326	49:34:46
2	Vladimir Tschagin Sergei Sawostin Eduard Nikolajew	KAMAZ 4326	+00: 03: 39
3	Gerard de Rooy Tom Colsoul Marcel Van Melis	GINAF X2223	+00: 59: 56
4th	Ilgizar Mardeev Viatcheslav Mizyukaev Ayrat Mardeev	KAMAZ 4326	+06: 46: 30
5	Franz Echter Detlef Ruf Artur Klein	MAN TGS 18.480	+07: 19: 41
6th	André De Azevedo Majkel Justo Jaromír Martinec	Tatras 815	+09: 31: 18
7th	Pep Vila Roca Moisès Torrallardona Joachim Busoms	Mercedes 1844-AK	+16: 06: 40
8th	Wulfert van Ginkel Willem Tijsterman Richard de Rooy	GINAF X2222	+16: 29: 47
9	Jordi Juvanteny Jose Luis Criado Fina Roman	MAN TGS 26.480	+19: 53: 45
10	Zoltan Szaller Lazlo Karoly Pocsik Tibor Csitari	MAN M2000 18.280	+20: 27: 01

113 motorcycle riders, 13 quad riders, 91 car drivers and 54 truck drivers were able to reach the finish line in the rally.

Marc Coma was the first winner of the first Dakar Rally on the South American continent and recorded his third overall victory. He secured victory with an hour and 25 minutes advantage over the last Dakar winner Cyril Despres. David Frétigné surprisingly finished the rally in third place on his small 450cc Yamaha, just 13 minutes behind Despres. On the other places were Casteu, Rodrigues, Ullevalseter, Viladoms and Verhoeven.

In the quads, the Czech Josef Macháček won . He finished the rally two hours and 34 minutes ahead of local hero Marcos Patronelli .

Giniel de Villiers, the winner of the car classification, is the first driver from the African continent to win the Dakar Rally. He also became the first driver of a diesel vehicle to win the rally. His team-mate Mark Miller finished second, nine minutes behind, and Robby Gordon in his big Hummer third. Surprisingly, Ivar Erik Tollefsen and Krzysztof Holowczyc took fourth and fifth place in their former factory Nissan. They succeeded in doing this through their consistent results as they had no major defects. Dieter Depping was sixth, Matthias Kahle fifteenth. The only Mitsubishi driver who could cross the finish line, Nani Roma, only finished tenth. The X-Raid team also fell short of expectations after Al-Attiyah was disqualified.

In the production car category, Nicolas Gibon won the Toyota Land Cruiser . Xavier Foy came in second . In the overall ranking, they took positions 14 and 16.

The 2009 Dakar Rally was very successful for the KAMAZ team. Kabirow won, Tschagin came second. He missed the opportunity to catch up with record Dakar winner Karel Loprais. Ilgizar Mardeev finished fourth as the third KAMAZ driver. In between there was only Gerard de Rooy. Franz Echter achieved a good fifth place.

Incidents

During the first stage, the British Paul Green and Matthew Harrison were seriously injured when their vehicle overturned. Both men were taken to a local hospital, where they were still in critical condition days later.

The 49-year-old French motorcyclist Pascal Terry reported by radio on January 4, 2009 on the second stage from Santa Rosa de Toay ( La Pampa province ) to Puerto Madryn ( Chubut province ) that his motorcycle had run out of gas. He then didn't come back and went missing. Since the search was not initially carried out with full commitment and there were a number of misunderstandings, he could only be found dead on the night of January 8th. The autopsy of the body revealed that he had died of pulmonary edema on January 5 .

On the tenth stage on January 13, the 48-year-old Spanish motorcyclist Cristóbal Guerrero was seriously injured after a violent accident. For 24 hours after the accident, he was still in a coma and in critical condition.

During the twelfth stage on January 15, the leader Carlos Sainz fell into a four-meter deep gorge with his VW Race Touareg. His copilot Michel Périn sustained a shoulder injury in the accident, which meant the end of the rally for the team.

Web links

Commons : Dakar Rally 2009  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the 2009 Dakar Rally

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dakar 2008 - The caravan moves across the Andes. Archived from the original on August 25, 2008 ; Retrieved March 4, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Dakar Rally VW - the vicious chasers. Retrieved March 4, 2009 . 
3. ↑ Dakar Mitsubishi Rally - the ultimate. Retrieved March 4, 2009 . 
4. ↑ Dakar Rally X-Factor BMW plus Hummer Star. Retrieved March 4, 2009 . 
5. ↑ Race report on stage 1
6. ↑ Race report on stage 2
7. ↑ Race report on stage 3
8. ↑ Race report on stage 4
9. ↑ Race report on stage 5
10. ↑ Race report on stage 6
11. ↑ Race report on stage 7
12. ↑ Race report on stage 8
13. ↑ Race report on stage 9
14. ↑ Race report on stage 10
15. ↑ Race report on stage 12
16. ↑ Race report on stage 13
17. ↑ Race report on stage 14
18. ↑ Review and final results
19. ↑ www.kicker.de : Pascal Terry is dead (January 7, 2009)
20. ↑ http://www.motorsport-magazin.com : Pascal Terry found dead (January 7, 2009)