The 34th edition of the Dakar Rally, which is regarded as the toughest auto racing event in the world, starts in Mar Del Plata, Argentina on Sunday, January 1, 2012. This year the event covers 5,000 miles through Argentina, Chile and Peru. It will finish in Lima on January 15, instead of returning to Argentina as it has the past three years.
As we reported a few weeks ago last year’s winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar, has teamed up with Robby Gordon to drive a second Hummer in 2012. In many ways this gives Gordon a greater chance than ever to capture the victory he has long relished.
While Americans and Middle Easterners will be cheering on the Hummer duo, Europeans will undoubtedly be rooting for the Monster Energy Rally-X team of five Mini All4 Racings and three BMW X3CCs. Two of the Minis are being driven by Nina Roma, a former motorcycle winner, and Stéphane Peterhansel, who has won nine times.
Since Volkswagen is not competing after winning for three years in a row, the only sure outcome of this year’s event is that we will see something other than a Volkswagen Touareg or Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero on the podium for the first time since 2000.
Other American competitors to follow include Mark McMillin/Gary Arnold in a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Darren Skilton/Skyler Gambrell in a Baja Automotive Revolution 6 and Robb Rill/Benjamin Slocum in a Desert Warrior. It’s also worth keeping an eye on the Mexican team of Joaquin De Uriarte/Ivan Klein who are driving the Ford Raptor that Sue Mead/Darren Skilton drove in 2011 to a class win. Famous Baja motorcycle racer Johnny Campbell is co-driving for Robby Gordon, while Gordon’s former co-driver Andy Grider is co-driving for Argentinean Orlando Terranova in a Toyota.
A daily summary of the Dakar Rally will be shown at the ungodly hour of 1.30 am EST (or 10.30 pm PST) each night on NBC Sports, which is the new name for the Versus Channel, from January 2. However, if you would like to keep track in real time check out the Dakar Rally website, the blog on Robby Gordon’s Speed Energy website, or that of Toyo Tires, his tire sponsor.
.
Related posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment