Stage 9 Winner : 306 - Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2Stage 9 : January 11, 2010 - Copiapo to La Serena - Special 338 km / Connection 209 km
Volkswagen claim first three positions on stage, three “Blues” head overall standings: The TDI diesel powered Race Touareg continued to set the benchmark on the ninth of the 14-day long 2010 Dakar Rally.
Overall leader : 303 - Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) claimed the day's victory on the route between Copiapó and La Serena in Chile ahead of their team mates Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D). Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) recorded the fifth fastest time in another Race Touareg behind the French X-raid driver Guerlain Chicherit in a BMW. Carlos Sainz continues to lead the overall standings from Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller. Al-Attiyah reduced his deficit to the leader by six minutes to only 8 minutes 36 seconds.
Of particular interest: In the process of taking Volkswagen's fourth stage victory this year Nasser Al-Attiyah's winning margin of 5 minutes 59 seconds represented the largest lead for the winner of a stage during the 2010 Dakar Rally. The rally professional from Qatar achieved this notable performance on the shortest stage so far, which ran, however, through difficult dune fields in the Atacama Desert. The original 354 kilometre long section was reduced by more than half to only 170 kilometres. The organisers postponed the start by 3 hours 45 minutes due to isolated fogbanks.
The ninth "Dakar” day saw the competitors finally leave the Atacama Desert behind them. Beforehand, however, it was a case of overcoming dune belts and deep, soft sand. The key to success was the drivers' ability to read the steeply falling dunes scattered with camel grass vegetation so as not to get bogged down on the opposite side and lose time as a result.
Stage 9 Result : January 11, 2010 : Copiapo to La Serena - Special 338 km / Connection 209 km
Pl | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Variation | Penalty |
| 1 | 306 | AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) GOTTSCHALK (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 01:59:18 | 00:00:00 | |
| 2 | 303 | SAINZ (ESP) CRUZ (ESP) | VOLKSWAGEN | 02:05:27 | 00:06:09 | |
| 3 | 300 | DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 02:07:06 | 00:07:48 | |
| 4 | 307 | CHICHERIT (FRA) THOERNER (CHE) | BMW | 02:09:41 | 00:10:23 | |
| 5 | 305 | MILLER (USA) PITCHFORD (ZAF) | VOLKSWAGEN | 02:10:16 | 00:10:58 | |
| 6 | 301 | PETERHANSEL (FRA) COTTRET (FRA) | BMW | 02:16:54 | 00:17:36 | |
| 7 | 318 | MISSLIN (FRA) POLATO (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 02:19:22 | 00:20:04 | |
| 8 | 310 | NOVITSKIY (RUS) SCHULZ (DEU) | BMW | 02:19:43 | 00:20:25 | |
| 9 | 314 | SOUSA (PRT) BAUMEL (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 02:20:31 | 00:21:13 | |
| 10 | 311 | TERRANOVA (ARG) MAIMON (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 02:29:36 | 00:30:18 | |
| 11 | 332 | BARBOSA (PRT) RAMALHO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 02:32:48 | 00:33:30 | |
| 12 | 302 | GORDON (USA) GRIDER (USA) | HUMMER | 02:38:23 | 00:39:05 | |
| 13 | 323 | ERRANDONEA (AND) GARCIN (FRA) | SMG | 02:38:26 | 00:39:08 | |
| 14 | 325 | HENRARD (BEL) BEGUIN (BEL) | VOLKSWAGEN | 02:38:40 | 00:39:22 | |
| 15 | 315 | KAHLE (DEU) SCHÜNEMANN (DEU) | Fast - Speed | 02:40:55 | 00:41:37 | |
| 16 | 336 | LEAL DOS SANTOS (PRT) FIUZA (PRT) | BMW | 02:46:53 | 00:47:35 | |
| 17 | 321 | DE AZEVEDO (BRA) CAVASSIN (BRA) | MITSUBISHI | 03:09:55 | 01:10:37 | |
| 18 | 322 | SPINELLI (BRA) PALMEIRO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 03:16:57 | 01:17:39 | |
| 19 | 383 | JIANG (CHN) BARTHOLOME (BEL) | CHERY | 03:24:56 | 01:25:38 | |
| 20 | 339 | FOJ (ESP) JATON (ARG) | TOYOTA | 03:41:59 | 01:42:41 | |
| 21 | 341 | MITSUHASHI (JPN) CATTARELLI (FRA) | TOYOTA | 03:44:30 | 01:45:12 | |
| 22 | 317 | VAN DEIJNE (NLD) ROSEGAAR (NLD) | MITSUBISHI | 03:45:15 | 01:45:57 | |
| 23 | 338 | GIBON (FRA) MIURA (JPN) | TOYOTA | 03:47:53 | 01:48:35 | |
| 24 | 335 | WALLENTHEIM (SWE) OHLSSON (SWE) | ISUZU | 03:54:22 | 01:55:04 | |
| 25 | 353 | SCHOTT (DEU) SCHMIDT (DEU) | MITSUBISHI | 03:57:35 | 01:58:17 | |
| 26 | 327 | SOLOVYEV (RUS) ZHILTSOV (RUS) | SMG | 03:59:59 | 02:00:41 | |
| 27 | 349 | LATRACH (CHL) LATRACH (CHL) | TOYOTA | 04:02:51 | 02:03:33 | |
| 28 | 342 | STRUGO (FRA) FERRI (FRA) | NISSAN | 04:03:01 | 02:03:43 | |
| 29 | 389 | ZHOU (CHN) PONCET (FRA) | GREAT WALL HOVER | 04:07:35 | 02:08:17 | |
| 30 | 396 | ROUND (SVK) BOOIJ (NLD) | DESERT WARRIOR | 04:10:20 | 02:11:02 |
Stage 9 - Overall Standing
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Images : 2010 Dakar - Stage 9 Hi-light
[Source : 2010 Dakar - Official, VOLKSWAGEN, X-Raid]
