Dakar 2009 - Cars: De Villiers clinches Dakar win

Eurosport - Sun, 18 Jan 21:58:00 2009

South African Giniel De Villiers was crowned Dakar Rally champion after winning the 14th and final special stage.

2009 Dakar Stage 12 Volkswagen De Villiers - 0

The Volkswagen driver won the 791km Cordoba-Buenos Aires route, including 227km timed against the clock which he completed in one hour 35 minutes 43 seconds, finishing ahead of Russian Leonid Nowitskiy (BMW) and Krisztof Holowczyc (Nissan).

American Mark Miller, De VIlliers' team-mate, was runner-up after finishing sixth on the final day, with Nowitskiy completing the podium.

De Villiers, whose win was his second in a row and fourth overall, had an 8mins 59secs advantage over Miller.

"It's just incredible, I've never felt this way. I was so nervous in the last kilometres. I kept looking at how many kilometres we still had to go," De Villiers said.

"I am so thrilled for the whole team, for Volkswagen, who have supported us for five years before reaching this victory."

Runner-up Miller, also of Volkswagen, added: "Finishing second is great. It could have been Giniel or me - that's the race. I am still young and I will have plenty more opportunities to win this race.

"The team won and that was our goal. It's really awesome."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 8 - 27 of 27

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  1. well done all

    From ollyswings, on Sun 18 Jan 9:35PM

  2. Go South Africa!

    From Nico, on Sun 18 Jan 12:23PM

  3. No 20 is right. It should start from Paris and not Spain. If they decide to use South America, it should not be called Dakar naymore.. All in all a boring "dakar" event

    From Melanie, on Sat 17 Jan 9:24PM

  4. Go #309 Robby Gordon ! :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Fri 16 Jan 9:49PM

  5. Come on de Villiers!!!!!

    From Robin, on Thu 15 Jan 10:39PM

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    From , on Sun 11 Jan 6:51PM

  7. For as much as i love the Dakar series ,i cant help thinking how much better it really was when it started in Paris and finnished in the Dakar, and i misss that..I hope they can ever get it sorted and run the Paris-Dakar again, cos to me they only stopped rinning it throughout Africa for political reasons...

    From NUNO, on Sun 11 Jan 10:20AM

  8. This is the only form where we comment on whats going on rather then on the people on it, love it true motorsports fans, with true comments.

    From NUNO, on Sun 11 Jan 10:16AM

  9. Absolutely loving EuroSport coverage through torrents here in the US, the USA version on VS is SOOOO bad, absolutely the worst commentary and coverage. Thank you Eurosport for wonderful coverage with great visual impact and very informative commentary, especially the coverage of vehicle repair.

    From seabass468, on Sun 11 Jan 8:03AM

  10. once again is true that german's technique is the best of the best

    From cristi m, on Sat 10 Jan 5:54PM

  11. Mitsu cannot beat VW on diesel engines...

    From cristi m, on Sat 10 Jan 5:52PM

  12. i don't understand why Mitsubishi switched to a diesel engine....the Pajero Montero in 2006, 2007 was a SUPER MACHINE..still...Peterhansel is a great pilot Hope in 2010 Mitsu can go beyond the germans from VW. Succes!!!

    From cristi m, on Sat 10 Jan 5:42PM

  13. Are you kiding? I was trying to say it simply but it seemed you didn´t understand! Crashes are part of the task of course but crashes here at Argentina are mainly caused by some elements a "bit outside Dakar",i can writte a hole page at the end of Dakar if you want. Africa is Africa and South America changes a lot my way of the Dakar! Marathons,Days without sleeping,mytical villages,mytical people and mytical SAND!!!

    From franrock299, on Fri 9 Jan 9:30PM

  14. Rally Raid - Dakar is the same thing except Dakar is longer and been at it longer. Change of venue is nothing to do with crashes - it is part of the task. It was going to be tough, and that is what EVERY driver and competitor wants. This is a no holes barred event. Sad that the Arab got pulled out - I think he could have been penalized 30 minutes would have been more fair. Throwing out the leader is not funny. I dont think he intentionally cheated. Dont forget the idiot got lost once before - and same could have happened again - except this time it worked for him rather than against him.

    From EleanaV, on Fri 9 Jan 6:52PM

  15. Too bad Petehansel crashed.What a poor Dakar i think!!! Dakar was having more and more fans and the Africa stages are simply awsome. Here, no cool stages and stupid crashes.Return to Africa if you want to keep Dakar alive!

    From franrock299, on Fri 9 Jan 6:28PM

  16. Just heard that Iron Man Peterhansel has crashed out of the Dakar...CAN ANYONE CONFIRM THIS..?

    From longoff, on Fri 9 Jan 5:34PM

  17. Go Saffers, kick @#$%

    From michael, on Fri 9 Jan 5:26PM

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    From Kendl D, on Fri 9 Jan 1:40PM

  19. Go South Africa!

    From Nico, on Fri 9 Jan 12:37PM

  20. Not a bad pilot, but skipping parts of the course is unfair to sport. If the problem was engine overheating, then he should have stopped and wait it to cool down. I agree with having him disqualified.

    From Antonello, on Fri 9 Jan 11:18AM
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