| UAE Desert Challenge, mån 27/10 |
| Skrivet av Redaktionen | |
| 2008-10-28 | |
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UAE Desert Challenge gick av stapeln mellan den 25-31 oktober 2008, klicka in och läs om den heta tävlingen i Dubai.
2008 UAE Desert Challenge Positions after super special stage (2km): 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 2m 14.56s 2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara 2m 16.69s 3. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC 2m 28.68s, etc 5. Bruce Garland (AUS)/Harry Suzuki (J) Isuzu D-Max 2m 32.87s 10. Par Wallentheim (S)/Dan-Olov Ohlsson (S) Isuzu D-Max 2m 44.69s
TEAM ISUZU DIESEL MISSION NEWS UAE DESERT CHALLENGE (October 25th-31st, 2008) FIA World Cup for Cross-Country rallies, final round
Sunday, October 26th 2008
AUSTRALIA’S GARLAND AND ISUZU’S DIESEL MISSION HOLD FIFTH AFTER DESERT CHALLENGE SUPER SPECIAL STAGE • Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah holds outright lead • Sweden’s Par Wallentheim steers his Isuzu to 10th place MINA SEYAHI (UAE): Team Isuzu Diesel Mission driver Bruce Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki made a very promising start and held fifth position after the short twokilometre super special stage that got the competitive action in the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge underway at Jebel Ali, near Dubai, on Sunday afternoon. The Australian has entered the final round of the FIA World Cup for Country Rallies in an Isuzu D-Max, which he used to take fourth place in the Australian Safari Rally as a shakedown for the Arabian challenge. Another car is also being readied in Australia, as Garland makes his final preparations for the 2009 Dakar Rally in South America with the Isuzu team. “I started racing with Isuzu for the first time in the Australian Safari Rally in 2003,” said Garland. “At that time I was driving an Isuzu Bighorn or Trooper on many events with quite a lot of success. I am very pleased with the cars, but I was driving gasoline engined-vehicles. I was aware that Isuzu were experts with diesel technology, so I became interested to race an Isuzu diesel car. “I started discussing the idea with my friends at Isuzu and found that they wanted to change the perception of the ‘diesel’. They wanted the public to realise that diesel cars nowadays have enough speed to compete in tough races like the Desert Challenge and the Dakar and that was the beginning of the Isuzu Diesel Mission.” Garland knows that the UAE Desert Challenge is one of the toughest rallies in the world and he will be hard-pushed to match early rally leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah over the next five days’ competition in the remote Rub Al-Khali or Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert.
“We have taken everything we learned at the Australian Safari to upgrade our car. The diesel engines are tuned and we have fitted Hollander sequential gearboxes that have been especially made for the D-Max. We have a Motec dash that monitors the cooling system and the general status of the car and we have installed two large fans at the rear to try and reduce the heat from the desert. The shock absorbers and brakes have been modified, the body has been reinforced and we have fitted sand ramps so we can get out of the sand quickly if we get stuck. The sand in the UAE can become very soft when it is hot, so this is important.” Garland and Suzuki are confident that they can achieve a good result nonetheless. “We are very confident, because we have done some testing in the desert in Australia,” admitted Suzuki. The D-Max is really good in the sand, because of its high torque. We should put on a good show this week.” Sweden’s Par ‘Pelle’ Wallentheim and Dan-Olov Ohlsson are also taking part in a second Isuzu D-Max as part of Team Isuzu Diesel Mission. They held 10th position after the timed super special stage at Jebel Ali. Seventy-five bikes, three trucks and 37 cars took part in the short opening stage in late afternoon temperatures that were still well above 30 degrees Centigrade and threatening to be even higher in the Empty Quarter for the remainder of the week. Tomorrow (Monday) is the official start of the UAE Desert Challenge and marks the first desert action for the international entry. Teams will take a road liaison section from the Dubai emirate to the official start outside the luxurious Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi.
A second liaison will then guide crews to the start of the opening 281km desert section between Al-Dafrah and the overnight halt at Moreeb hill, near Liwa, deep inside the Abu Dhabi emirate. The event finishes in Dubai on Friday, October 31st.
2008 UAE Desert Challenge Positions after super special stage (2km): 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 2m 14.56s 2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara 2m 16.69s 3. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC 2m 28.68s, etc 5. Bruce Garland (AUS)/Harry Suzuki (J) Isuzu D-Max 2m 32.87s 10. Par Wallentheim (S)/Dan-Olov Ohlsson (S) Isuzu D-Max 2m 44.69s ________________________________________________ Klicka nedan för att se videoklipp
ISUZU DIESEL MISSION TEAM NEWSUAE DESERT CHALLENGE (October 25th-31st, 2008) FIA World Cup for Cross-Country rallies, final round Leg 1: Abu-Dhabi to Moreeb Hill: liaison, 53.20km; special, 281.05km; liaison, 118.50km; total, 452.75 km. Monday, October 27th, 2008 TEAM ISUZU DIESEL MISSION ENJOYS POSITIVE START ON OPENING LEG OF UAE DESERT CHALLENGE
MOREEB HILL (UAE): Team Isuzu Diesel Mission enjoyed a positive start to their 2008 UAE Desert Challenge campaign after the first 281km desert section from Al-Dafrah to a finish deep inside the Abu Dhabi desert on Monday. Australian Bruce Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki had been running as high as 11th overall through the first passage control point, but stopped for around 30 minutes with overheating concerns before the second passage control. They eventually passed PC2 in 27th position and PC3 in 29th on the stage and reached the end of the section in 4h 05m 04s to hold a provisional 20th overall. Swedish team mates Par ‘Pelle’ Wallentheim and Dan-Olov Ohlsson maintained a steady pace in the second Isuzu D-Max and reached the finish of the stage in 3h 17m 43s to record the eighth fastest time and seal a similar position in the overall standings. Wallentheim was also unofficially fourth in the diesel category behind the leading factory BMW X3 CCs and a Japanese Toyota. “It has been quite an experience out there in the heat,” admitted Garland, tackling his first UAE Desert Challenge since 2005. “We could smell the paint warming up on the car, so we stopped for around 30 minutes to let everything cool down. Still, it is a great test for the Dakar and that is what we came here for. “The car is superb in the sand dunes and maybe we can push a little more tomorrow. Maybe I was a little too cautious today. I didn’t want to risk damaging the engine so early in the race.” Wallentheim was pleased with his progress: “We made a couple of small navigational mistakes early in the stage and that cost us a couple of minutes, but I am pleased with our performance. The car feels very strong and capable in the sand dunes and the heat is not really a problem for us. I would say that it was more of an issue on the Australian Safari than it has been here.” The rally caravan will spend Monday evening camped under the stars and a towering sand dune at the Moreeb Hill bivouac, near Liwa, deep inside the Abu Dhabi emirate. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah led the stage from start to finish and held an overall lead of around 18 minutes over his Russian X-raid colleague Leonid Novitskiy. The UAE Desert Challenge crosses some of the remotest terrain on the planet, but both Garland and Suzuki have spent considerable time in similar regions of the world. “The charm of a rally of this nature is the fact that it is adventurous,” enthuses Garland. “It is the ultimate challenge of man and machine to push for the limits. It also teaches you to respect Mother Nature. The deserts have a funny affect on your soul. You know it is a dangerous place, but it also has its own beauty and you have to respect it or it will kill you. Nothing is more fulfilling than the sense of accomplishment you get when you finish an event like this, especially when you have a good position.” The Isuzu Diesel Mission has been built for strength and endurance and Garland has been impressed with his mount over the first two days of the UAE Desert Challenge. “I have noticed three obvious things,” admits the Australian. “First of all the car is very durable. We do not really have any major problems with it at all. The maintenance is very simple; our mechanics have an easy time with the D-Max. “Secondly, the fuel economy is excellent. I noticed that the car consumes between 80 and 100 litres less that a gasoline-engined vehicle. As a result of this, we do not need such a large fuel tank and can reduce the total weight of the car for better performance. “The final thing is the engine temperature and that is critical on events like this one. Rally drivers do not turn the air conditioner on, because they need to feed all the power to the engine, so the cabin is very hot because of the heat of the engine. “For a diesel car, the engine temperature of the D-Max is not as high as a gasoline car, which makes it easier for me and Harry to concentrate on the race. This is because a diesel engine can transform heat from the combustion process into power at a higher ratio that a gasoline unit.” Tomorrow (Tuesday) is one of the most difficult sections of the UAE Desert Challenge, although it is the shortest leg of the event. A liaison section of 81.15km will take teams to the start of a 296.75km selective through the remote Rub Al-Khali and this winds its way back to finish near the Moreeb Hill bivouac. There will be four passage controls at the 70.30km, 131.90km, 160.80km and 229km points in a total route of 377.90km. Crews will tackle two further loop stages around the Moreeb bivouac on Wednesday and Thursday, each selective section crossing a wide range of treacherous sand dunes, gatch roads, gravel trails and winding Bedouin sand flats through the Rub Al Khali or Empty Quarter – one of the remotest places on earth near the frontier with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event finishes in Dubai on Friday, October 31st.
2008 UAE Desert Challenge - positions on leg 1 (unofficial): 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC ` 2h 27m 15s 2. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC 2h 45m 12s 3. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara 2h 55m 14s 8. Par Wallentheim (S)/Dan-Olov Ohlsson (S) Isuzu D-Max 3h 17m 43s, 4th diesel 20. Bruce Garland (AUS)/Harry Suzuki (J) Isuzu D-Max 4h 05m 04s 2008 UAE Desert Challenge - positions after leg 1 (unofficial): 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 2h 29m 29s 2. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC 2h 47m 40s 3. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara 2h 57m 30s 4. Yayha Al-Helai (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Nissan Patrol 3h 03m 51s 5. Glen Reid (UAE)/Haydn Walker (UAE) Nissan 3h 09m 54s 6. Laurent Rosso (F)/Fabian Lurquin (B) Nissan Pathfinder 3h 13m 48s 7. Jun Mitsuhashi (J)/Akira Muira (J) Toyota Land Cruiser 3h 16m 15s 8. Par Wallentheim (S)/Dan-Olov Ohlsson (S) Isuzu D-Max 3h 20m 27s, 4th diesel 20. Bruce Garland (AUS)/Harry Suzuki (J) Isuzu D-Max 4h 07m 36s
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