SAINZ Catches FIRE / SCHLESSER Charges to Stage 9 Victory for his second Stage WIN in the 2007 DAKAR

Story - DIRTnewz Staff / Photos Courtesy of Motorsport.com

Santee, California (January 15, 2007) DAKAR Rally race teams followed up the rest day with a long stage that tested their endurance, navigational ability and then capped it off with an overnight of no support from their crews who marched on down the African plains.

Leading to Monday's long race stage of 497km / 298.2miles, less than 200 competitors are left in the DAKAR as they push towards the end of the adventure. Stage nine featured few landmarks and some huge sand dunes that would test the skills of the co-driver/navigator and little assistance from support crews due to the extreme distance and landscape.

Driving the # 310 FOX Racing Shox / BFGoodrich Tires Super Buggy to victory today was Jean-Louis Schlesser capturing his second stage win of this 29th DAKAR. The teams have finished only in the past hour and we'll bring you Schlesser comments from the end of Stage 9 very soon.

Schlesser beat Mitsubishi Factory driver, Luc Alphand by 13 seconds and 4 minutes and 15 seconds in front of Stephane Peterhansel, who now takes the lead in the overall standings.

For the past few stages, VW Factory supported Ginal de Villiers led the field, however disaster struck today when his turbo caught fire and left him stranded in the dunes of Africa. Not far behind him was American VW driver, Mark Miller, who stopped to assist de Villiers, but after a brief stop he marched on carrying the VW Factory flag.

By the end of today's stage it was apparent that VW Factory teams would not reach into the top five positions for the first time since the beginning of the 29th edition of this DAKAR.

The so-called "rabbits," by the other competitors have fallen to the wayside and perhaps the American off road racing veteran, Mark Miller, will now take the charge orders from VW Team Management and have the opportunity to take the lead role in the hugely supported team. Its been rumored that VW spends nearly 100 million dollars on their DAKAR Rally program annually, quite the difference from the so-called privateers who have made it into the top ten.

Schlesser provisional winner of the special stage

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