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

Team VW Pikes Peak drive Chris Blais has suffered a broken back while pre-running for the Vegas to Reno off road race. Chris, who is part of the American Red Bull KTM Dakar team, was asked to join the VW Pikes Peak team this year replacing Danny Sullivan. Chris’ family reports that Chris will be have surgery later today to fuse his 7th vertebra in Reno, Nevada. Chris was to race the Vegas to Reno as part of the Red Bull KTM team.

Chris Blais on Left of Ryan Arciero

Hi all!! I thought I would share some information regarding the Baja 500. I left Ensenada, Baja California last night (Sunday) after spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday pre-running with Mark Miller & Ryan Arciero. Just before I departed back to the U.S., Geniel, Dirk, & Ralph arrived at the Coral Hotel where the VW team will be setting up the headquarters for their operations. It was a pleasure to finally meet the guys, who were looking a just a bit jet-lagged and tired from their flight to California from Europe. They had all flown into Los Angeles, where they picked up the 3 seat Support Touaregs that will be used for pit support, and then proceeded south into Baja Mexico to begin preparations for the race. Everyone was very excited about the new challenge of racing in Baja.

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!

Hey! It’s Mark calling in after the Nema to Nema stage. It was a fast track today, in the driver briefing last night they said it would be monotonous, so that was pretty much what it was. It was (laughs) it was just kind of a boring day. It was a sandy track and really fast. It was kind of different, really different than anything I have really ever done before, but a unique experience. I missed my set up a little bit. I went back to a Morocco set up which created a little under steer problem so I think that is probably the difference between me and the stage win today. But it looks like we finished third. In the beginning we stopped for Carlos Sousa, he had broken a rear differential, so we talked to him for a little bit so we lost a little bit of time there but not enough to make a difference.

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.

Hey it’s Mark calling in! I just finished the second stage, or ah the second half of the marathon stage from Tichit to Nema. I started fifth today and everything went really great this morning. Had a great race, got through most of the traffic and actually at one point was leading the stage by four or five minuets, and then Carlos had a problem and I had to stop and spend about one half of an hour trying to help him fix his car. Unfortunately that was a bummer for me today as it was a really good chance for me of winning a stage of the rally today, but that’s the way it goes. You have to be a good team mate and Carlos had a big problem. So before that, we had an epic battle. Hopefully you guys will watch it on TV because Luc Alphonse and Carlos and I went through the dunes together completely WFO. It was just crazy, I mean really crazy! Carlos and I went back and forth and then Carlos passed Luc and I was behind him. Just before the very last section of the dunes I passed Luc. Then Carlos and I checked out right up (laughs) right up until Carlos had his problem right about 325 km into the 500km stage. But that is racing and that is Dakar.

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.

Hey it’s Mark calling in! We made it to Atar, not ahh.. (laughs) not with out another great story! First off we started the day in a major sand storm. First 20 or 30 km you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, it was crazy! But we “nailed” the whole first 30 km all kinds of difficult navigation here. At some point there was only one track in front of us. I don’t know if we were second on the course, but we were definitely the only ones on the marked course, the course the organizers meant for us to be on.

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.

Hey! It’s Mark calling in from Zourat. Unbelievably whacky, crazy day! It started with an all night sand storm in Tan Tan, and of course I decided to spend the night in the tent instead of driving 15 minuets to the hotel, so another great way to start the day! And then we drove 500km, almost, to the start of the race today, so it was a long laisson and in the middle of that we had a torrential massive rain storm so, it was mud and just crazy! Anyway, we got to the start of the stage and the stage was 400 km, I think. This is the stage where you cross “The Wall” normally and you go through the war zone in Western Sahara and the fighting and all that stuff and it kind of exciting. The race was very fast the first 80 or 90 km , never lifted, wide open, do not lift.

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!

Hey it’s Mark calling in from Tan Tan. Ah…oh.. (laughing) ah…I don’t even know what stage it is already that bad …5^th stage I guess. We finished 8^th today. It was a stage through the Atlas Mountains and super, super rough and really rocky. As far as how the stage went, we went through a mountain pass that was just unbelievable, it was for like donkeys or something. The first 120 or 130 km I think was just perfect, I mean the car was working and we had made a bunch of time. I think though CP 2 we were leading the stage, or had the fastest time anyway. Between the 2^nd check and the 3^rd check I got a right rear puncture and immediately after that a left rear puncture, just out of the blue. I felt like my old pal Larry Ragland at the Barstow race in 96, I couldn’t do anything right. I mean going straight down a road and the thing just punctured.

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.

Yeah, it is Mark calling in, just finished the stage in La Zugat. I think things were pretty good this morning, but they went downhill. We got into a pretty good race with Luc Alphond, we passed him and he passed us back, we passed him and he passed us back. After the first set of dune crossings in a transition between dunes in a pretty rough area, when we entered the next set of dunes we had some problem. I don’t even know (what it was), we just got to the bivouac, all I can tell you is that we had to go through a lot of dunes with front wheel drive only. Thank goodness for Ari Vatenan, he was my chase guy today. He had a tow rope with him, but we didn’t need it. We had to go quite slow, it was very, very difficult to go through dunes with front wheel drive only. We lost a lot of time today. I don’t know, I haven’t seen the results yet, but for sure we lost 30 or 40 minuets. So it’s a bummer, we had a great day going up until 50 or 60 km left in the stage. Really a crappy day. Unlucky, just an unlucky deal. The boys will work on the car tonight. I’m sure they will change out the entire drive train, we’ll be back in four wheel drive and back in business tomorrow. It’s a long rally and we’ll do everything we can to make up that 40 minuets. Right now you are catching me at a low time. So, any way that’s how the Dakar is, there is highs and lows, today is a low for us. Hopefully we can come back strong, Thank for checking in.

Hey! Its Mark calling in from Ariquada (?).  We just finished the stage, actually we just left service.  Everything went pretty good.  We started way back today, was hoping to start in the top ten today, but it didn’t work out, I started 14^th, so I had to fight through the dust.  I lost about 4 minuets to the first check point trying to get through some cars   things seemed to open up a little bit but still had to pass 100 bikes today.  It was pretty brutal, but all the cars had the same problems passing the bikes.  But I ended up 5^th on the stage so you know everything is going as planned and the car is in great shape and all the guys are happy.  So, I’ll try to give you a call tomorrow, we start in Zquid (?)  tomorrow morning.  It is just crazy right now in Africa, people everywhere, pandemonium, anyway hopefully things will mellow out a little as we get further south.  Thanks for checking in, I did my best today, considering the situation, I think it was OK.  I’ll call in tomorrow and hopefully everything will be good.  Thanks, bye,