GO GINIEL, ALFIE, RALPH GO!
author: Leon Botha
We South Africans normally tend to overestimate our own ability going into any type of competition – thinking about it, I suppose every nation suffers from the same fate. The Aussies are for instance still reeling after running down the South African Proteas before the current cricket series and the rugby world is still trying to recuperate after we took the Rugby World Cup again the last time we played.
Older people will remember the late “Spiekeries” a.k.a. Gerhard Viviers who used to be a rugby commentator, one of the last who knew what he was doing. Not like this midget with the big mouth that makes his money from any venture he can get his short arse in…almost, but not quite like our dear rugby friend who appears in any profitable (for them) advert or become executive of a company wherever people pay the right fee….and then run like hell when the shit hits the fan denying any involvement?
Anyway, old Spiekeries had the incredible ability to make it sound as if our team or boxer or cricketers were winning – even when they were down and out.
We are fortunate that three South African members of Pretoria Motor Club will be competing in the 2009 Dakar rally and I suppose it is natural that one tends to ignore everyone else as a factor when you look at who the subconscious mind “says” will be winning.
The support and development behind (305) Giniel de Villiers plus his undoubted talent makes him an overall favourite – no matter which country you are from and it will take some serious attack and lots of luck in any other team to keep him behind them. A second South African, Ralph Pitchford will be in the Volkswagen team. Ralph will be navigating for Mark Miller (308), while the third South African is none other than Alfie Cox (335) who will be driving a SMG Buggy.
But……
Anyone who underestimates the onslaught that will come from the Mighty Mitsubishi Dakar winning teams must have sniffed high Cetane diesel!
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The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer
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The 2009 Dakar, that will be going through the Atacama desert and the Andes Mountains instead of the Sahara, will be the first major sport event during which Mitsubishi will be using diesel engines.
No matter how good or bad things are at the factory and in the sales department (something I can still not understand) it is common knowledge that Mitsubishi will not peek out of the garage door if it does not stand a better than average chance to win.
The only “cosmetic” handicap they may have is the fact that they will be trying to win for the 13th time – their 8th successive win?
This time around and until the 17/18th of January when the race will finish back in Buenos Aires we will not know what to expect and for that matter predict the outcome.
The 2009 Dakar holds many hidden and unknown obstacles that only drivers who make it through the 9500km will be able to talk about after the event when they get back to the starting point in Buenos Aires.
It “seems” if there are longer desert stretches in this years Dakar than in the Africa version and it is a fact that temperatures are higher in South America than in Africa. The factor that will count for Giniel and also Carlos Sainz is that there will be some genuine rally type of stages to content with through the mountains.
On the 13th of January the teams will tackle the 670km (yes you read it correctly – 6-7-0km) 10th stage through the Atacama desert that is one of the driest and hottest in the world!
A total of 539 cars, motorcycles, quads and trucks will drive do their best to get across 10 Argentine provinces and three Chilean provinces, through the plains of Patagonia, the Atacama desert and the Andes Mountains, reaching altitudes of up to 4700m above sea-level over 15 days.
The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer -, as does Volkswagen Touareg team, will consist of four cars, but the former boasts three previous Dakar winners in Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Luc Alphand and the Japanese Hiroshi Masuoka, with only Joan 'Nani' ROMA who still has to win to complete the line-up.
The VW team is still knocking on the door to win Dakar and this year they once again have a very strong team led by Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitziwitz, Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford, the German pairing of Dieter Depping and Timo Gottschalk and the twice rally world champion, Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Michel Perin.
The Spaniard won six of the 14 stages at Dakar 2007 and was ahead of the field for four days until power steering problems ended his chances.
The South American race can be regarded as something of a home race for Sainz who has won the Argentinian round of the World Rally Championship three times but one will have to be blind to miss the outstanding achievement of Peterhansel who has won the Dakar six times on a motorcycle from 1991 to 1998. He also bagged the top prize in the race’s four-wheel category in 2004 (T1 category, Nissan), and on a Mitsubishi Pajero Evo in 2005 and 2007.
One also has to bear in mind that Mitsubishi has an unbeaten record on this event – nothing has beaten it since 2001 and they will not have left anything to chance especially now that they need every drop of publicity to ensure sales increases.
There are important factors counting for or against Mitsubishi – this rally is the launch of their “Racing Lancer” and it is also the first major race using diesel power. The slightly longer chassis will also make the rides over the longer stages more comfortable.
The most positive factor is the fact that Peterhansel has in 2005 competed in the Por Las Pampas Rally during which he gained experience of the terrain that will be used this year. He came second overall behind Bruno Sabi despite having rolled early in the event.
Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart will have 15 support vehicles on the event, namely seven trucks, five Pajero/Monteros, one Outlander and two Pajero/Montero Sport.
On paper the Mitsubishi team seems to have the edge and I have a feeling that Volkswagen may not have enough ammo to blast the Japanese team from the map?
Having said this and without being influenced by the thoughts of old Speikeries, there is no doubt in my mind that Giniel has the ability to win this event and I have a feeling that he will – if his luck holds – be leading this rally from early on.
The problem for every single driver however will remain the fact that this rally has not really been tested and before 18th of January no one will really be able to tell what is going to happen.
Rallystar will be updating you through the normal sms channels as well as on this website as often as we can.
So lets put our patriot hats on and cheer for Giniel, Ralph and Alfie!
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