DAK Peterhansel and Chicherit maintain fourth and fifth into Santiago

X-RAID TEAM NEWS

32^nd Dakar Rally (January 1^st-17^th, 2010)

Stage 10: La Serena-Santiago: liaison, 112km; special, 238km; liaison, 236km, total, 586km.

For immediate release

Tuesday, January 12^th, 2010

X-RAID’S PETERHANSEL AND CHICHERIT MAINTAIN

FOURTH AND FIFTH OVERALL INTO SANTIAGO

• Peterhansel and Chicherit set second and fifth fastest times
• X-raid’s Leonid Novitskiy slips to 11^th overall
• Carlos Sainz extends overall lead with fastest time into Santiago

SANTIAGO (Chile): Team X-raid GmbH’s Stéphane Peterhansel and Guerlain Chicherit maintained fourth and fifth positions in the overall standings after the relatively straightforward 10^th stage of the 2010 Dakar Rally between La Serena and Santiago in Chile on Tuesday.

Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret finished the last Chilean stage of this year’s Dakar in second position to pull a further 2m 04s away from their fifth-placed team mates, Guerlain Chicherit and Tina Thörner, in the overall classification.

Russia’s Leonid Novitskiy and German co-driver Andreas Schulz began the day in ninth overall. They were delayed and came under pressure from a hard-charging Robbie Gordon and Orlando Terranova and the 14^th fastest time meant that they ceded two places in the overall rankings and reached the Chilean capital in 11^th overall.

Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz set their first fastest time of the event so far to extend their overall advantage over Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk to 10m 06s.

Today’s stage began at Terrnas de Socos after the 112km liaison section from La Serena and took place on a balance of twisty and faster rural tracks to finish at Illapel. A second liaison of 236km then guided teams into the overnight halt in Santiago.

The leading quintet was closely matched through the opening 42km, with Sainz leading the way by a handful of seconds from Miller, Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah and Chicherit. Novitskiy was 10^th. The BMW trio held third, fourth and 16^th through the 100km checkpoint, but Peterhansel moved up to second position over the closing kilometres as none of the front-runners hit major problems.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) the Dakar re-crosses the spine of the Andes mountain range via the Liberatores Pass and moves back into Argentina. A steeply ascending 211km liaison on switchback roads takes teams up into the snowline, adjacent to the towering and majestic peak of Aconcagua, and on through the frontier to the stage start near the Argentinean tourist village of Uspallata in the Mendoza province.

The day’s varied stage reaches an altitude of around 3,000 metres above sea level before beginning a descent into the overnight halt at San Juan in the shadow of the Andes foothills to the west of the pampas. The city is the capital of the Argentine province of the same name in the Cuyo region and is located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River.

2010 Dakar Rally – positions on SS10 (unofficial @ 13.30 hrs):

1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 3h 01m 05s

2. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 3h 01m 33s

3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 3h 02m 07s

4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 3h 02m 45s

5. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 3h 03m 37s

6. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 3h 04m 47s

14. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 3h 20m 40s

2010 Dakar Rally – overall positions after SS10 (unofficial @ 13.30 hrs):

1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 36h 34m 45s

2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 36h 44m 51s

3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 37h 03m 04s

4. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 38h 49m 05s

5. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 39h 05m 44s

6. Carlos Sousa (P)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 40h 28m 50s

7. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 41h 20m 58s

8. Guilherme Spinelli (BR)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 41h 59m 53s

9. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 42h 15m 16s

10. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer 42h 18m 41s

11. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 42h 25m 18s

Ends

Further information and photos are available at www.x-raid.de or contact Stefanie Marquard/Thomas Quandt at X-raid GmbH, Tel: + 49 (0) 6147 204670, E-mail: s.marquard@x-raid.de and t.quandt@x-raid.de.