VW Team battles on in Africa
Release date:
13 January 2005
Kleinschmidt shines
The Castrol-backed Volkswagen Race-Touareg Team driver Jutta Kleinschmidt has shone on this year’s Dakar Rally, moving into third place on the fifth day and maintaining her top three spot heading into the final weekend.Kleinschmidt, who became the first female to win the Dakar in 2001, has consistently been the front-running VW team member, while fellow Race-Touareg pilots Bruno Saby, Juha Kankkunen and Robby Gordon have been less fortunate.
“Quite honestly I'm relieved that we survived the day in such good condition,” said Kleinschmidt after day seven. “Every aspect of that stage was incredibly tough. The strong headwind and bad visibility in the sand storm demanded every ounce of concentration. The camel grass at the end was an unpleasant obstacle after the very tricky dunes."
It launched us into a series of rolls
Desert rally legend Saby was leading the event in the early stages, but an unidentified problem caused the Frenchman to slip down the order while four-time World Rally Champion Kankkunen also ran into trouble finishing four hours behind the leaders.US racing star Gordon, who is piloting the fourth 2.5-litre Turbo diesel Touareg, set a blistering pace at the start of the rally and took the overall lead after the second stage. However the American rolled on stage six and had to be towed to the end of the stage, but fast work from the VW crew got Gordon and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz up and running again in time for stage seven.
Gordon said: “We caught up with a car, and changed to the left lane. Immediately following a small jump there was a second hump-back jump, which we hit on landing and it launched us into a series of rolls.”
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