X-raid's Sails Capital Racing Team safely passed scrutineering and documentation checks at La Rural convention center in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, before the team's six BMW X3 CCs head into the first stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally on Saturday. X-raid also took the opportunity to announce an exciting sponsorship deal with French oil giant Total for the forthcoming Dakar Rally. The deal is initially for the Dakar, with a view to extending into the new cross-country rallying season. “Each of the three major teams (Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and X-raid) has new cars and this will be the first time that they have met in race competition,” said team director Sven Quandt. “It will be very interesting to see what develops over the first few days, where I am sure that Robbie Gordon will also be very fast. Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah will drive one of the two latest-specification BMW X3 CCs in X-raid's armory. Dutchman Peter van Merksteijn drives the second model, because Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit felt more confident after around 5,000km at the wheel of his older specification car. Al-Attiyah has been jogging around the scenic boulevards and wide avenues of central Buenos Aires before breakfast this week in a bid to prepare himself fully for the start of the world's most difficult off-road rally. “I am totally ready, focused and raring to go,” enthused the defending FIA World Cup and Baja champion. Chicherit echoes Al-Attiyah's sentiments and admitted to feeling more relaxed than usual in the buildup to a major rally. The Dutch duo of Peter van Merksteijn and René Kuipers have also been getting to know members of the X-raid team, which they have both joined for the first time. X-raid Russia's Leonid Novitskiy is also confident that he can achieve a good finish on this occasion, after setting several competitive times in the UAE Desert Challenge. “The mechanics have spent a lot of time getting my car ready for this rally over the last couple of days and I want to pay them back with an excellent result.” Argentina's Orlando Terranova is also upbeat about his chances of success on his home event. Terranova's French co-driver Alain Guehennec is the most experienced Dakar competitor in the entire X-raid team. He is competing in his 18th Dakar and will be bidding for a 13th finish. A provisional 230 bikes, 30 quads, 188 cars and 82 trucks from 49 countries will take part in the 31st Dakar Rally, although final pre-event formalities were on until Thursday evening. __
