So 2009, the very year that the Dakar Rally is not held in Africa (it was moved to South America for security reasons, from its traditional North West Africa location) is the same year an African wins the race!
Giniel de Villiers, a South African, completed the final stage of 227 km to win the 30th Dakar Rally, driving a VW Touareg II – this after close calls in 2006 when he made 2nd place and 2007 when he missed out on victory at stage nine due to turbocharge issues.
This was not only the first win for a South African, but also for Volkswagen who finally made Mitsubishi eat their dirt after that company has dominated the race for the past 7 years.
South Africans also featured elsewhere in the race – the second place went to Mark Miller whose co-driver is from SA and the Nissans which came 4th and 5th were both built by Nissan Motorsport right here in SA, under Glynn Hall and the team from Nissan Motorsport.
Car Results – Overall Standings:
1. De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz VW 48:10:57
2. Miller/Pitchford VW 48:19:56
3. Gordon/Grider Hummer 49:57:12
4. Tollefsen/Evans Nissan 54:15:31
5. Holowczyc/Fortin Nissan 54:48:46
Bike Results – Overall Standings:
1. Coma KTM 52:14:33
2. Despres KTM 53:40:11
3. Fretigne Yamaha 53:53:29
4. Casteu KTM 54:32:27
5. Rodrigues KTM 54:36:44
(Image: AlexCamPro Creative Commons License)
