Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on December 11, 2009 at 10:53am

Factory or Privateers running last years factory cars?

Permalink Reply by Bruno on December 11, 2009 at 1:06pm

It's a privateer effort with some factory support they'll have the old cars, but with gasoline engines instead of diesel. At least it´s what Barbosa and Sousa said to the Portuguese media.

Permalink Reply by Willis on December 11, 2009 at 11:48am

cool, 5 more people to whoop up on

Permalink Reply by alan4s on December 11, 2009 at 12:49pm

From dakar.com:

10-12-2009 - The Lancers are back Mitsubishi’s announcement last February that it was withdrawing from rally-raid sent shockwaves through the sport. This coming January 1st there will be no less than five Lancers in Buenos Aires for the start, led by team manager Dominique Serieys! But it will be with a new team, JMB Stradale, which the winning co-driver on the 1993 Dakar will oversee. The project became a reality thanks to up and coming driver Nicholas Mislin, who purchased both the cars and the Mitsubishi infrastructure. The new team owner only completed the team just prior to the cars being sent to Le Havre for the trip to South America. “The work done in November was massive and now we finally have five vehicles, for drivers Miguel Barbosa, Guilherme Spinelli, Orlando Terranova, Carlos Sousa and myself. This is very pleasing in itself, but we will see the end results on January 18: that is when we have to be present.” The driver hailing from Marseilles, who turned heads with an impressive 10th place finish on the 2002 Dakar, comes in with even higher expectations but he also knows that the race will be a no holds bar battle. “We have replaced the Lancer’s diesel motor with a gas engine, because the costs of getting the most out of diesels are very high. So, we will have to try to distinguish ourselves on the difficult stages, with lots of obstacles. But there are at least 20 credible cars capable of finishing in the top 10.”

Permalink Reply by Team Maranello on December 11, 2009 at 2:30pm

Wow, 5 mitsus, 4 VW's, 3 Bimmers along with a assortment of Nissan and Bowlers. The field looks solid. Robby cant wait for attrition this year to get him on the podium. That hummer better come out of the starting gates on a full gallop. Cant wait, is it the new year yet!