Lima, Peru There are memories that stay with you for ever – such as the 2009 Dakar Rally, when Giniel de Villiers (Stellenbosch, South Africa) and Dirk von Zitzewitz (Karlshof, Germany) achieved a notable victory, thereby heralding the beginning of a new era in the world’s toughest rally. It was the rally’s first outing in South America, the first time an African triumphed in this legendary cross-country motorsport event, and the first win for a diesel car too. And highly developed diesel cars have continued to dominate the event ever since. But in the 2012 Dakar Rally, this victorious duo of yesteryear and their new, private Imperial Toyota team began to chip away at the supremacy of the prototypes with typical racing engines, indicating the shape of things to come in the world of cross-country rallying by surprisingly clinching third place in an inferior V8 Hilux fitted with a production-based engine developed for future Dakar rallies. This result is as notable as their 2009 victory and clearly deserves to figure prominently when they look back on their careers. The 2009 Dakar victory forged a strong bond between “Ginny” and “Schnietz”, as they like to call each other. And their outstanding surprise success in the 2012 Dakar Rally has the potential to be a historical turning point in the careers of this amicable driver/co-pilot duo, who aren’t afraid to start from scratch. Theirs is a relationship founded on friendship and respect.

Approachable and laidback meets sincere understatement
The story of these Dakar Davids who repeatedly undermined the self-image of the off-road Goliaths such as X-raid Mini and Hummer with their daily achievements is the definitive story of the 2012 Dakar Rally. And it’s a story that has given a lift to an entire team, as Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz have a special status within the Imperial Toyota team headed by Glyn Hall. When not behind the wheel, they are more than happy to give advice to the Dakar rookies, who avidly lap up their every word. Within the team, “GdV” is approachable, laidback and authoritative, while “DvZ” is all about sincere understatement. But in the cockpit, one of them is the boss, while the other gives the orders. It’s a constellation that simply wouldn’t work without a great deal of mutual respect. Around five thousand sentences are exchanged in the cockpit during the Dakar Rally – amounting to more dialogue than there is in some marriages within the space of a year. And the delivery is invariably in the form of an order – there’s no room for kid gloves here.

“As a co-pilot, you really need to have faith in your driver, so that you can focus entirely on navigating without permanently having to survey the terrain,” says Dirk von Zitzewitz. “And that’s precisely what makes Giniel and me work so well as a pair: there is mutual appreciation of what each other has to do.” Giniel de Villiers then adds: “We have the same goals that we will doggedly fight to achieve. But when we get out of the car, we are both able to not take ourselves too seriously. And that’s what I really like about our partnership.”

Connoisseurs and sportsmen through and through
“Life’s too short to drink bad wine,” says Giniel de Villiers. Meanwhile, his co-pilot Dirk von Zitzewitz prefers a well-aged whisky or a well-made cappuccino. But “Ginny” and “Schnietz” are also sportsmen through and through. Giniel de Villiers calls himself an outdoor type and spends a lot of time kitesurfing or on a motorbike. He is always on the go and both he and Dirk von Zitzewitz have mountain bikes provided by the bike manufacturers Specialized. The two of them are Red Bull athletes and they both got themselves physically and mentally ready for the 2012 Dakar Rally in South Africa. And the two of them have very close ties away from the Dakar too, spending up to 150 days a year together on test drives and in rallies. Giniel de Villiers insisted that his co-pilot in the 2012 Dakar Rally be Dirk von Zitzewitz, making von Zitzewitz, who hails from Germany, the only non-South African in the Imperial Toyota team.

Speeding things up and slowing things down with just the right co-pilot advice
Giniel de Villiers had good reason to want to carry on working with his long-term partner even after parting ways with Volkswagen – the South African and the German have worked together since early 2006 and have so far made it onto the winners’ rostrum together ten times. They are Mr and Mr Reliable. They know their own limits and also those of the material they work with, and this is what reaped them their 2009 Dakar victory. But things looked rather different in 2012. “GdV” and “DvZ” only had 700 kilometres of test driving under their belts ahead of the Dakar – not nearly enough to push their vehicle to the limit on the especially rough rally stages. So, typically for this congenial couple, they opted for a conservative driving style. And once again in 2012, this “less is more” approach meant that de Villiers and von Zitzewitz were in the right place at the right time, giving them the success they had hoped for while others took too many risks and paid the price for it. “Dirk is able to rein me in at just the right time,” says Giniel de Villiers, “but he also knows when to get me to adopt a more aggressive driving style if necessary. I trust him implicitly and we understand each other without having to say a great deal.”

In the early days of their partnership, it was precisely this implicit trust that von Zitzewitz found slightly baffling. Harking back to their first test drive together, he comments: “I knew we’d work well together as soon as we got going. But it did take me a while to get used to the fact that Giniel would immediately make a right turn as soon as I instructed him to go right. Every other driver I ever navigated for would take note of my instructions and then examine the situation to work out what I meant – but not Giniel. But after a few kilometres, we had got our timing down to a fine art and we just clicked as a team.” And this is certainly borne out by the pair’s first cross-country rally successes: second in the 2006 Rally of Tunisia, first in the Transibérico Rally, and first in the Rally of Morocco. And in their first Dakar Rally in 2007, the pair enjoyed a comfortable lead until engine trouble caused them to drop back.

Sights set on a shared objective – a second Dakar victory
“Ginny” and “Schnietz” have clearly set their sights on repeating their Dakar Rally victory of 2009. So when their long-standing employee Volkswagen pulled out of the event, they decided to go with Imperial Toyota, which is looked after by the Hallspeed team that has accompanied Giniel de Villiers since his first forays into off-road sport after having won the South African Touring Car Championship no less than five times. De Villiers is confident that they can achieve their dream with Hallspeed. And the potential of this incredibly hard-working team became apparent after just a few kilometres in the 2012 Dakar Rally – even though the cooperation was actually designed as a long-term project and the Hilux prototype was developed on the basis of new regulations. “Not only our opponents, but also the event organisers, the fans and the media reps were rather surprised by how well we were doing after the first few legs of the rally. We ourselves didn’t expect to be giving the firm favourites a run for their money right from the start of the event,” admitted de Villiers. “But when we did, they treated us with respect and were also honestly delighted to see a new manufacturer hotting things up in the Dakar Rally.”

The potential offered by the combination of the Imperial Toyota Hilux, Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz has therefore whetted the appetite for more and for further memorable moments not only of the drivers themselves. And maybe the 2013 Dakar Rally will prove to be one such memorable moment.

Der Beitrag “Ginny” and “Schnietz” – a story of friendship and respect erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Fotos von den Dakar-Champions mit dem Auto und dem Teamchef.

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Der Beitrag Fotos Dakar 2009 erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Chris Blais on Left of Ryan Arciero

Der Beitrag Chris Blais hurt. erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Unlike Rally racing, racing SCORE events allow for practicing the race course or what we call pre-running. On Saturday and Sunday Mark had already made one complete lap of this year’s course, which will allow him to help guide Giniel and Dirk as they begin their pre-running. Mark’s pre-running was conducted with Ryan Arciero in Ryan’s special built “pre-runner” which is similar to the Trophy Trucks he races. The pre-runner is basically a trophy Truck with the cab of a pick up, so it has the suspension of the trophy truck, but the comforts of the pick-up! I believe the plan was for Mark and Giniel to begin pre-running in the Support Touaregs today and they will eventually complete at least one lap in the Race Touaregs by mid next week.

The weather has been really good for the last week and is expected to remain good though race day. On the Pacific coast side of the Baja peninsula, the weather this time of year is typically mild with late night and morning low clouds and fog which gives way to afternoon sunshine and temperatures at around 21 C. Inland through the central portion of the peninsula it will be hot and dry with temperatures at around 32 to 37 C.

I’m a little disappointed that I had to return back to the US due to work commitments but I’m really looking forward to going back down to help, hopefully early next week!

Der Beitrag Arival of Team VW for the Baja 500! erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Anyway, not too bad, Matsuoka finished right in front of me and he is the guy in the general standing just in front of me, the Mitsubishi driver. So now tomorrow I have got to figure out some way to put four or five minuets on him. He is two minuets ahead of me. So, that will be the big plan. He starts right in front of me so if I can just pass him tomorrow then ah, or the next day. Tomorrow actually is going to be just a liaison, no special not times taken. Because of the terrorist threat they canceled the normal planned stage. There was some Al Quida something or another, sot they are making us liaison on the freeway, not a freeway, a one lane tar road to the next bivouac and then we will start racing again the next day. So anyway on that day I will do what I can to get ahead of Matsuoka and move up in the standings. I’m sixth over all now two minuets out of fifth and that will be my next goal. Then we will see if I can move higher after that. Anyway, that is about it, everything else is going good. They have got my car completely apart right now. The engine is out, the transmission is out, the differentials are out, (laughs). Basically it looks like something you would be re-prepping and it would take three to four weeks to do. But they are going to change a bunch of stuff and put the motor and transmission back in and have that thing back together and ready to go by one when we start the liaison. It is an unbelievable feat. These guys are a great team, they are really amazing, with all the trouble with Giniel and Carlos, and the troubles I had at the beginning they have never given up. So it is a real tribute to the Volkswagen people. Anyway, thanks for checking in and I will report back in two days. Bye bye.

Der Beitrag Mark Miller call in from Stage 10 erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Giniel had a tough day today. I don’t know, we don’t even know, I stopped for him early on, we had just got by Peterhansel and Giniel was parked. And we stopped and they though they had burned a turbo or something and there was nothing we could do to help them so we just carried on. So anyway, that is the report. The faces are not too happy in the Volkswagen camp today with Carlos and Giniel, but you know we are going to fight every day until the end. I am definitely going to fight. I should be setting in a podium position right now had I not stopped for Carlos today. We aught to be able to pick up 30 minuets by the finish. We are on the pace at least and if not, we are the fastest car out there so keep the faith and keep checking in and hopefully I’ll have some good news for you, take care.

Der Beitrag Mark Miller Call in from Stage 9 erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Anyway, 75km in to the stage everything was going perfectly when we had some smoke coming in and the smell of fuel. Believe it or not, we had to spend an hour repairing the car. It was just a simple; I don’t know, I don’t know if it was an injector line pipe we had to replace, I don’t know why or what else at this point. So we sat for an hour and got that unit replaced and got going and passed everyone we could pass and went as hard as we could to the finish. They cut the stage short; it was supposed to be 500km. The last dune crossing today was at around 360km into the stage. We “cleaned it” and right up until the last 300m we got stuck there and we had to air the tires down and jack the car up a couple of times to get out. I don’t know we lost about 15 minuets messing around there, but by then everyone else was “checked out” and we were, our day was done, we were just trying to get to the finish. On the way to the finish, after that though, we came up on Ari Vatanen’s car and there was a big smoke cloud and in the foreground there was Ari’s car burnt to the ground. So that was a real bummer. Ari seemed pretty bummed about that. I’m guessing that he had the same problem that I had, fuel leak, but I have no way of knowing that. Anyway that’s the kind of day we had (??? wind noise hard to understand??). I don’t know how we did on the stage; we got 40^th or 20^th on the stage I don’t know. There were a lot of people passing us when we were parked. But we will find out in a while, I’m sure you find out, check on the internet. Thanks for calling in tomorrow is a rest day so you wont hear anything from me, maybe I just check in to say hi, (?? wind noise can’t understand??) until then thanks, bye.

Der Beitrag Mark Miller call in „Stage 7“ erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

And then we actually made pretty good time I think we were 5^th at the CP, I caught Carlos Suza and we were just kind of following him through the camel grass and it was quite rough, though some dunes. Before the last dune crossing we had another technical issue. It looks like we broke a diff or a driveshaft, I don’t know. We just lost the “diff” and it went into 2 wheel drive, I don’t know, we lost around 8 or 9 minuets at the end of the stage. So (laughs) I just can’t seem to get it right. I don’t know if I’m driving too hard or, I don’t know but I feel like I’m driving really smooth and I guess I’m just unlucky, I’m not sure what. Anyway, we figured out why yesterday we had all the punctures. We went and looked at the data and we made a mistake in the morning on the tire pressure and that was a big, big mistake. And so I didn’t feel so bad to find out after that. Normally I never get punctures and then to get 3 was really crazy. So anyway at least I felt better that I wasn’t doing something strange, and that it was a simple set up problem. And today I don’t know, I don’t know what happened, but I’m sure the guys will get it worked out and we’ll keep fighting. There was a big crash to day, Chicherit crashed and that was a real bummer for him. He was doing well. Other than that, I don’t have much else to report. So tomorrow is the first big tough day, and we’ll do what we can. Tomorrow there should be some big time gaps and hopefully we’ll be the one on top of the podium tomorrow. See you!

Der Beitrag Mark Miller call in from „Stage 6“ erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

So, anyway, we changed those and actually got back in and caught back up to Peterhansel again and (laughs) with about 70 km to go started to pick the pace up and got a right front puncture and that was it we only had three spares so I had to completely cruse to the finish about 50 or 60 km. So it was one of those days, finished 8^th on the day. The car is perfect so I guess I’m unlucky or maybe I’m pushing too hard, I don’t know. But we will fight tomorrow and keep on going. The weather in Tan Tan is finally warming up, it’s been like minus degrees Celsius every bivouac so far but it’s already nice and warm here in Tan Tan. Thanks for checking in and we’ll call in from Zourat tomorrow.

Der Beitrag Mark Miller call in from „Stage 5“ erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.

Der Beitrag Mark Miller call in from „Stage 4“ erschien zuerst auf ZITZEWITZ MOTO EVENTS.