The End of the Line
Eric Vigouroux and Alex Winocq won the Open Score category in their Pro-Systems Chevrolet Trophy Truck.
At the end of the 312-mile-long stage on the seventh day, Mitsubishi's Luc Alphand was as surprised as anyone at having set the fastest time of the day as he had suffered problems. But he had fewer problems than his closest competitors and he now led the event by three minutes over teammate Stephane Peterhansel (and winner of the previous two year's races). More important, he was six minutes ahead of Jutta Kleinschmidt in the leading VW. What's more, over two hours now separated the new leader from the car in the 10th spot. Mitsubishi's strategy, the same as last year, had paid off, though barely one-third of the event had been traversed.
After days of driving in pure sand, sub-tropical central Africa presents other challenges to Frenchmen Luc Alphand and Giles Picard, who won the Dakar 2006 in a Respol Mitsubishi Pajero EVO.
Team VW's Miller found the stages in Europe the most challenging, as he was not used to muddy, tight WRC-style rally stages. But as soon as the race got into more familiar desert terrain, Miller's skill came to the fore and he worked his way up to fourth overall and third amongst the five VW drivers. Sadly, any chance for him to win overall came to an end on the infamous seventh day when he rolled off a sand dune and lost time righting the car, only to roll again. Despite losing two hours, this setback only dropped him to ninth place overall, as most other teams had even worse problems. Day seven just proved that Dakar is one tough race-and a Touareg is a tough race car-if you can roll twice and still continue in a strong position.
Robby Gordon was suffering more, though. Like Miller, Gordon didn't shine in the large Hummer during the three European stages. Once in Morocco, however, Gordon ran as high as fifth position before he started having some technical problems. Limping through stage eight, he had the misfortune to hit a clump of camel grass, which broke the radiator. By the time he and Skilton had dug themselves out of the sand and repaired the vehicle, they arrived too late at the final checkpoint for the day and were disqualified from the race.
On to the Finish
Luc Alphand and Giles Picard, winners of Dakar 2006, get plenty of cheers from enthusiastic spectators in a village on their way to the finish in Dakar.
Gordon's race was over, but Miller had a fabulous run on the long desert stage before the rest day with a strong third-place finish that elevated him to seventh place overall. He and the rest of the drivers and navigators got a well-deserved couple of nights in a hotel in the bustling and very sandy city of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
The starting order for each day's stage is determined by the driver's finish position the day before, which meant that Miller was able to start third after the rest day. This would normally have given him a great opportunity for a stage win, as he'd be free of dust thrown up by competitors in front. But it was not to be. Team orders dictated that he wait for teammate Giniel DeVilliers from South Africa, who was running in third position overall. Miller had to follow him through the 375-mile-long special stage that eventually took the race out of the vast sand dunes of the Sahara. From now on, the VW team's primary goal was to support DeVilliers, as he was the only one with any chance of an overall win.
No rest for the Pro-Systems French crew during Dakar's rest day half way through the race in Nouakchott.
A win for VW would only happen if the two front-running Mitsus ran into trouble, as they had too great a lead in elapsed time. And one did-on the 12th day, when Peterhansel, the overall leader, hit a tree and broke his suspension. Although he was able to limp through the stage, he lost four hours to his teammate and was out of contention for his third straight overall win. Mitsubishi's hopes now rested with former French ski champ Alphand.
Usually, with only three days left in the 15-day race, there is little doubt as to who is going to win the Dakar. However, this year the race between Alphand and DeVilliers was tight, even though they were also trying to drive somewhat conservatively to make sure they would finish. It was nerve-wracking for both teams. But there were no more mishaps among the leaders before the race ended in Dakar-Alphand took the checkered flag for Mitsubishi while VW had to be content with second place for DeVilliers. Still, it was one position better than last year, and VW had proven that the turbodiesel Touaregs were finally a match for the gas-powered Pajeros. Mark Miller managed to maintain fifth place, finishing right behind Peterhansel and second among the five VW drivers. His was the second-best-ever finish for an American driver in the toughest race in the world. "Comparing Baja to Dakar," says Miller, "is like comparing kindergarten to college."
Robby Gordon looks through a page from the Dakar route book.
Robby Gordon is determined to try again next year, hopefully with a second Hummer (potentially with a Duramax diesel engine) for another experienced American driver plus a much larger support crew. Mark Miller is hopeful he'll be back driving one of the VW Touaregs again. Pro-Systems will return with one or two Chevrolet trucks. And who knows? Maybe more Baja racers will show up-the draw of Dakar is tremendous. Sooner or later an American driver and/or an American vehicle will win the most prestigious off-road race in the world.