Volkswagen boss Kris Nissen hailed Giniel de Villiers’s win of the Dakar Rally as “historic” after the South African became the first man to win the Dakar in a diesel car, during the first time the event took place outside of Africa. De Villiers was followed home by his teammate, American Mark Miller, with the team winning 10 of the 13 stages.

“It’s definitely been a historic occasion and Giniel has done an incredible job” said Nissen. “Winning the Dakar is the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. There are so many unknowns that predictions beforehand are impossible; particularly as we were driving in South America for the first time. This makes it all the more rewarding that Volkswagen prevailed with a one-two victory. I feel sorry that we lost our most competitive crew so close to the end, but this only underlines just how tricky it is to succeed on this epic event.”

Two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz crashed out of a comfortable half-hour lead with just two days to go, with the Spaniard blaming the organizers’ road book for its lack of precision. His Race Touareg fell into a four-meter deep ditch, and a shoulder injury for co-driver Michel Perin ruled them out of continuing.

While Volkswagen finally won the Dakar at its third attempt with the Race Touareg, Mitsubishi was left to rue a disastrous Dakar debut for the new Racing Lancer. A combination of bad reliability and bad luck eliminated all of the team’s leading drivers, with just a 10th place finish for Spaniard Nani Roma proving to be of little consolation.

In other major Volkswagen news, the company now appears set to announce its decision to enter the World Rally Championship in the near future. The German firm’s primary aim for this season was to win Dakar before focusing its attention on the next stage of its motorsport program.

Volkswagen's Nissen confirmed the decision on VW’s future would come imminently.

“We have looked at the World Rally Championship and we have been keen to investigate whether [the WRC] would be possible as well as the Dakar or instead of Dakar,” he said.

Nissen added that a continued global motorsport program was vital for Volkswagen.

“VW is one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers,” he commented. “International competition is really important and sure, the Dakar is international competition, but so is the WRC.”

Volkswagen made motorsport history by winning the 2009 Dakar Rally with its clean diesel powered Race Touareg TDI’s. This years Dakar Rally, which made its debut in South America, marked the first victory ever for a diesel-powered vehicle in the automobile class in the Rally’s thirty year history. Volkswagen factory driver and off-road motorsport veteran, Mark Miller, also made history as the highest finishing American that has ever raced in the Dakar Rally.

The 2009 Dakar Rally was won by the Volkswagen Factory driving team of South African-German duo Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz, while their Volkswagen team mates Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford finished the rally in second place.

"It was just an incredible result for the Volkswagen team this year, with Giniel and Dirk taking the historic first diesel powered win,” said Clark Campbell, Volkswagen of America Motorsport Manager. “All of us here at Volkswagen of America are also especially proud of Mark and Ralph's tremendous finish this year as well. Mark is a key person in our Motorsport efforts here in North America, and his finish as the highest American driver ever to race the Dakar is a testament to his driving skills, physical and mental fitness, and his passion for off-road racing. His result in this year's Dakar further demonstrates his consistency and ability to finish on the podium in these grueling off-road races."

Although Juho Hanninen and the Skoda team maintained their comfortable pace at the head of the field throughout most of the second day, it is the reigning Junior World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier (pictured) who returns to parc ferme in Valence in the lead of the 77th Monte Carlo Rally.

Hanninen enjoyed a hard-earned advantage of a minute and a half up until the final stage, when he picked up a front left puncture after about five kilometres. The crew took the decision to continue for the remaining 15 or so kilometres with the flat tyre, but more than two minutes were lost over the course of the stage.

As a result, Peugeot 207 S2000 driver Sebastien Ogier, who was selected for the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team seat, leads the Monte Carlo Rally by 32.4 seconds with one day and five more stages remaining. The reigning Junior World Rally Champion, making his Super 2000 debut, had no major problems throughout the day but he is locked in a close battle with Peugeot Belgium driver Freddy Loix, who currently occupies second place. Hanninen is now third after his unfortunate puncture, just five seconds behind Loix. Like most people, Ogier found it hard to judge just how much grip was available on the icy stages and it proved impossible for everyone to predict how the weather conditions would evolve.

However, Hanninen was not the only person to encounter problems. Irishman Kris Meeke dropped some time as the result of an off-road excursion in the morning but is still firmly in contention for a podium place. The situation was considerably worse for reigning IRC champion Nicolas Vouilloz. The Frenchman’s title defence has got off to an unfortunate start after he hit a rock on SS7 and damaged the steering of his Peugeot Belgium 207 S2000 – forcing him into instant retirement.