2006 Dakar Rally

Tags: motorsport 2006 Dakar Rally

After the second Dakar Rally leg, Volkswagen still tops the leader board with Carlos Sainz and travels as leading team to Africa as a result.

Carlos Sainz (SPA - VW - 1st)
"Everything went fine today, I had even more pleasure than yesterday on the course. As for me, it’s not that perfect to have the leadership before joining Africa. I’m still waiting for the desert to know what I can really do over there".

Luc Alphand (FRA - MIT – 2nd)
"That was a fantastic WRC stage, the pace was much higher than usual in the Dakar and I was a bit worried about the cliffs on the side of the course. Since our car has been made for the desert, Portugal was not the perfect ground for us but I did quite well in these two stages. As for me, my goal in Portugal was to stay in touch with the front-runners".

Standings after stage 2, Portimao (P) – Malaga (E); 115/567 km special stage 2/total

Pos., Team, Vehicle, Stage 2, Total time
1. Carlos Sainz/Andreas Schulz (E/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2; 1:34.28 hrs. (1.) 2:30.48 hrs.
2. Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard (F/F), Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution; 1:34.53 hrs. (2.) + 3.45 min.
3. Nani Roma/Henri Magne (E/F), Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution; 1:35.30 hrs. (5.) + 4.14 min.
4. Bruno Saby/Michel Périn (F/F), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2; 1:36.59 hrs. (7.) + 4.22 min.
5. Carlos Sousa/Jean-Marie Lurquin (P/B), Nissan Pick-up; 1:37.30 hrs. (8.) + 4.32 min.
6. Hiroshi Masuoka/Pascal Maimon (J/F), Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution; 1:35.29 hrs. (4.) + 5.35 min.
7. Jutta Kleinschmidt/Fabrizia Pons (D/I), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2; 1:37.53 hrs. (10.) + 5.49 min.
8. Nasser Al Attiyah/Alain Guehennec (QT/F), BMW X3; 1:34.56 hrs. (3.) + 6.42 min.
9. Guerlain Chicherit/Matthieu Baumel (F/F), BMW X3; 1:38.13 hrs. (7.) + 6.47 min.
10. Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-P. Cottret (F/F), Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution; 1:36.53 hrs. (6.) + 6.47 min.
11. Mark Miller/Dirk von Zitzewitz (USA/D), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2; 1:37.40 hrs. (9.) + 6.52 min.
12. Giniel de Villiers/Tina Thörner (RSA/S), Volkswagen Race Touareg 2; 1:38.53 hrs. (14.) + 7.53 min.

Record number of starters: At the Dakar Rally's first start in Portugal a record number of starters set of their travels: 475 competition vehicles (232 motorbikes, 174 cars and 69 trucks) with 775 competitors rolled off the start ramp. A total of 108 assistance vehicles and 129 Service-Trucks also set of for Dakar.