Budapest  - A motley fleet of more than 200 vehicles set off from Budapest on Saturday on the first stage of the Budapest-Bamako rally, a 9,000-kilometre trek that will take them across Europe and the Sahara Desert to Mali in West Africa.

With Dakar Rally exiled to Latin America by the threat of terrorism, it had fallen to Hungary to organize The Great African Run.

Cordoba, Argentina - Volkswagen played it safe on Friday at the Dakar Rally as Giniel de Villiers retained his overall lead ahead of team-mate Mark Miller in the penultimate timed stage won by Nani Roma of Spain.

VW took no chances the day after its then leader Carlos Sainz of Spain had to retire after crashing into a ravine as they drove in a convoy for most of the stage.

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy - Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes Sebastian Vettel is the most promising young driver but is rooting for Felipe Massa in the 2009 title race.

Speaking at a Ferrari journalist get-together in Madonna di Campiglio Ecclestone said that Vettel was doing a good job. "He is very talented."

Vettel last season became the youngest-ever winner of a Grand Prix when he took the chequered flag at the Italian GP in Monza.

La Rioja, Argentina - Carlos Sainz' dream of the Dakar Rally title ended on Thursday when the Spaniard was forced to withdraw in leading position, reportedly after a crash, making American Mark Miller the new frontrunner.

The official Dakar website said that the VW Touareg driver Sainz and his French co-pilot Michel Perin were taken by helicopter to a bivouac in Fiambala where Thursday's stage to La Rioja with a timed section of 253 kilometres had started.

They reportedly had an accident 79km into the stage, with Perin said to have injured his shoulder when their car went into a ravine.

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy - Title holder Lewis Hamilton will be the man to beat as Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen set their sights on the 2009 Formula One world title.

But Brazil's Massa vowed on Thursday at Ferrari's annual winter retreat in the Alps that he will give the McLaren driver Hamilton another big fight.

"The most important thing is to be world champion. I am probably in the best position in the career," he said. "Everyone starts from zero after the rule changes. But Lewis is probably our biggest rival."

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy - Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali strongly criticised Wednesday the introduction of the new kinetic energy recovery system
(KERS) to Formula One for the 2009 season as a waste of money.

"It's throwing money out the window," Domenicali said at a Ferrari media meeting in Madonna di Campiglio.

Ferrari tested their car's KERS system for the first time on Monday at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany but Domenicali said that the current global financial crisis meant that it was the wrong time to introduce such a costly system.

"However, Formula One will come out stronger from the crisis," added Domenicali.