Cheers to the champions on the podium of the first "Dakar Series" rally. The winners beaming with pride, journalists trying to shoot the best pictures, enthusiastic spectators celebrating the heroes of the rally with a champagne shower: Spaniard Carlos Sainz in a Volkswagen Touareg, Frenchman David Casteu on his KTM and Dutchman Hans Stacey in an MAN Truck. After battling neck and neck in a heated race with leads that were very slim, they were the first to cross the finish line at Balaton Lake in Hungary.

Joining in with the cheering crowd: the Loctite & Teroson Team – exhausted, yet proud of their own performance. There can be no doubts: the Henkel engineers made a significant contribution to the drivers' success. They accompanied the race all the way from the start to the finish in their own service truck, were available day and night with their professional silver tool boxes and performed more than 100 emergency repairs in one week. The tough race took more than 270 competitors from Budapest to Baia Mare in the Carpathian mountains of Romania, and back to Balaton Lake in Hungary. The itinerary covered a total of 2671 kilometres in seven stages and specials.

Many of the drivers had underestimated the challenges of the rough climate and the tough terrain: Rain and snow, stony tracks, muddy stages and narrow Carpathian mountain passes placed extreme demands on the people involved, the machines used and the materials employed. Broken windscreens, lost shock absorbers, holes in plastic bodies, loose transmission bolts – no problem for the Henkel Charlies. "Henkel makes this difficult job much, much easier“, says Bob Temple, chief mechanic of the Hummer Team starring driver Robby Gordon. "Loctite saves us a lot of work, particularly the 'Reds and Blues'“, as the drivers refer to the Loctite® instant adhesives and threadlockers. Because there is one point on which all agree: Good maintenance of a vehicle can make the difference between victory and defeat.

This is what happened to Team Nr. 273: Pieter van Kruijsdijk and Cees Bohnenn, racing the rally in their Bowler- Wildcat 200. The two Dutchmen arrived at the Henkel tent with a broken windscreen - but without either spare parts or repair products. The Henkel Team managed to get a replacement from another team, and had the new windscreen installed with two-component direct glazing adhesive Terostat 8630 in only 15 minutes. After allowing two hours to cure the bond, the Bowler was back in the race.

Loctite sponsored drivers, too, finished the race in excellent positions. In the front ranks: Bikers Miran Stanovnik (KTM) in 13th place and Rally Princess Annie Seel (KTM) as 24th. Eric Bernard and Jean-Noel Cornueille of Team Trio Racing took their BMW in superior style to 40th position. As a result of the extremely difficult conditions and numerous sprint sections with speeds up to 170 km/h, more than 30% of the competitors had dropped out.

The others pushed full speed ahead to the finish line, prevailing by extraordinary driving skills, a strong will to perform at their best, and outstanding technical competence – plus the professional support provided by Henkel's "Dakar proven products" which, after living up to the extreme challenges posed by three Dakar desert rallies, have undoubtedly stood the test of the first Central Europe Rally.

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Head of Corporate Communications
Ernst Primosch, Corporate Vice President