South African wins Dakar Rally

South African wins Dakar Rally

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

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