Central Europe Rally


The Central Europe Rally was a rally raid endurance race held in Romania and Hungary and technically the 30th running of the Dakar Rally. While not officially listed in the lineage of the canceled Dakar Rally, decisions made by the Amaury Sport Organisation to hold this event using Dakar Rally entries made this the 30th event since the 1979 Paris-Dakar Rally.
After the Amaury Sport Organisation cancelled the 2008 Dakar Rally days prior to the event as a result of 2007 killing of French tourists in Mauritania less than two weeks before the schedule start of the race, all Dakar Rally entries were deferred to this event, which technically makes this event part of the lineage.

Route

The event began in Budapest on April 19 and finished at Lake Balaton in Hungary on April 26, 2008.
Below is a table with the locations of the start and finish points of each stage of the Rally, as well as each stage's distance.

Results

Motorcycles

1. David Casteu 12:21:14
2. Francisco López +2:58
3. Alain Duclos +19:39
4. José Manuel Pellicer +21:20
5. Cyril Despres +22:50

Cars

1. Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, 11h18m08s
2. Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret, Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, + 2.01m
3. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, + 6.34m
4. Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard, Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, + 7.28m
5. Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz, Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, + 33.45m
6. Bruno Saby/Alain Guehennec, BMW X3 CC, + 46.30m
7. Robert Baldwin/Kevin Heath, Hummer H3, + 56.02m
8. Philippe Gache/François Flick, SMG, + 1h07m08s
9. Miroslav Zapletal/Valdimir Nemajer, Mitsubishi L200, + 1h12m19s
10. Robby Gordon/Andy Grider, Hummer H3, + 1h25m38s

Trucks

1. Hans Stacey, Eddy Chevaillier, Bernard der Kinderen, MAN TGA, 11:43:20
2. Wulfer van Ginkel, Daniël Bruinsma, Richard de Rooy, GINAF X2222, +0:33:43
3. Aleš Loprais, Ladislav Lála, Milan Holáň, Tatra T815-2, +0:53:18
4. Marek Spáčil, Jiří Žák, Zdeněk Němec, LIAZ 151154, +1:27:42
5. Marco Dono, Andrea Bettiga, Angelo Fumagalli, Iveco, +1:28:27