Kris Nissen : (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"This one-two win is a fantastic result for us. In sport, particularly in cross-country rally racing, it's impossible to calculate successes in advance or to firmly plan them. There are too many crucial factors involved, even if – as was the case with us at the Rally dos Sertões – you go into the race as clear favourites. The entire squad, from the drivers and co-drivers to the mechanics, did a truly fantastic job. I'm proud of everyone. The Sertões Rally served as preparation for the 2009 Dakar Rally and we learned a lot here, particularly with regard to the technical demands made on the material by these types of routes. A special thank you from us to Volkswagen do Brasil for their good support.”

#302 – Giniel de Villiers : 1st place overall
"This is a good day for Volkswagen, and I'm very happy about this exploit. We started to this rally as favourites and again proved that the Race Touareg is a winning car. For the whole team, this was truly a challenge because the terrain was different than in Morocco or Mauritania, for example. Very difficult to drive, very difficult to navigate. Ten days with extremely tough legs and without a day of rest for the squad as well as for us drivers, this was an extreme strain. I think we can take a lot of positive things with us from here and have taken another step forwards in our preparations for the Dakar rally in January 2009.”

#302 – Dirk von Zitzewitz : co-driver
"We went to Brazil without knowing what to expect. 4,500 kilometres over ten legs, these were just statistics for us. From the first day, the rally showed us why it's considered to be extremely tough. The legs really put high demands on us drivers and co-drivers. But we also got something in return: The spectators gave us an extremely warm welcome and the routes led through fantastic landscapes. For Volkswagen, this has been an entirely positive experience.”

#303 – Mark Miller : 2nd place overall
"Despite all the strain, the Rallye dos Sertões will leave pleasant memories with all the team members, myself included! I won three stages for Volkswagen, my first ones since joining the team. How great the team works in difficult situations was demonstrated to me on the penultimate day when my mechanics changed a defective turbocharger on the liaison stage to the start of the special stage in record time, enabling me to continue the race. They deserve part of the credit for the fact that we finished second overall.”

#303 – Ralph Pitchford : co-driver
"I'm very happy that we finished the Sertões as the overall runner-up. We didn't know a lot about this rally and weren't able to prepare ourselves for the navigation by extensively studying maps as we usually do. Still, we found perfect conditions here. The roadbooks were very good and extremely detailed. On the one hand, this made the job of navigating easier, but on the other it also required full concentration. I'm very satisfied with our result.”

Rallye dos Sertões –Final Standing

1  De Villiers-Von Zitzewitz   VW Race Touareg 2   29h28.32
2  Miller-Pitchford            VW Race Touareg 2  à 1h06.20
3  Varela-Macedo               Mitsubishi L200    à 3h02.18
4  Franciosi-Capoani           Mitsubishi L200    à 4h50.50
5  Fischer-Stal                Mitsubishi L200    à 4h56.46
6  Azevedo-Haddad              Mitsubishi Pajero  à 5h21.07
7  Koerich-Mega                Chevrolet S10      à 5h28.26
8  Ximenes-Eler                Wormem Sherpa      à 5h35.05
9  Leão-Costa                  Mitsubishi L200    à 6h06.50
10 Baumgart-Cincea             Mitsubishi L200    à 9h16.15

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