Puro Offroad

First competition contested with the Volkswagen Race Touareg, second leg, first win: in the second of the seven legs of the Central Europe Rally, Germany’s Dieter Depping gave Volkswagen their second leg win. Together with his co-driver, Timo Gottschalk, the 41-year old completed the addition of the two selective and particularly demanding special stages held around the Romanian city of Baia Mare faster than anybody else, thus moving up to third position in the overall standings.
At the same time, Volkswagen Motorsport holds additional top position in the overall standings: Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), the winners of leg one, hold the runner-up position, 22 seconds behind the current leader, Stéphane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi). Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (RSA/D), however, lost some time due to a windscreen-wiper problem and will start into the third day of the rally from ninth place, behind Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz (P/D) in the Race Touareg 2 of customer team Lagos. Altogether, four Race Touaregs hold top-ten positions. Read the rest of this entry »

We have crossed the ocean. The Dakar visits South America but doesn’t however leave Africa. The rally was forced to move away from its base but its roots haven’t moved. The links that were set during thirty years and the energy that has nourished the event continue to express themselves in the voyage that we are undertaking. The trip back whose length will also be dictated by the geo-political context is, whatever happens, being prepared now. It is why the relations that we have with the African countries affirm themselves as a solid base for the event. Read the rest of this entry »