Volkswagen bids for maiden diesel Dakar Rally win

The Volkswagen works rally team next month embarks on its most ambitious challenge yet – to become the first to win the legendary Dakar Rally with a diesel powered vehicle.

Four of the squad’s Race Touareg 2 machines, each powered by a new 2.5-litre five-cylinder TDI engine, will take the start at Lisbon, Portugal, on 6 January. Ahead of them will lie more than 8500 km of arduous North African terrain and 16 days of fierce and hazardous competition.

Two former World Rally Champions lead the Red Bull-backed Volkswagen team – Spain’s Carlos Sainz and Finnish veteran Ari Vatanen, a four-time Dakar Rally winner. American Mark Miller and South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers will drive the other works cars, while a fifth Race Touareg has been entered by Volkswagen customer squad Team Lagos for Portugal’s Carlos Sousa.

Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen believes that the team, which finished second on the 2006 Dakar, has the experience to win: ‘We want to be the first to win this long and tough event with a diesel. We were close to winning last time and since then we have worked extremely hard, undertaking an extensive test and development programme through which we have further improved the car, logistics and organisation.’

Among the developments for 2007 is a new cylinder head for the four-valve TDI engine which has helped push the maximum power output to 285 PS and torque to in excess of 600 Nm. ‘The new engine produces a little more power and delivers more torque over a wider rev range and is, in general, more drivable,’ says Donatus Wichelhaus, head of motorsport engine development.

Vatanen, 54, believes the team has the equipment to get the job done: ‘I felt comfortable the moment I sat in a Race Touareg,’ said Ari, who joined Volkswagen in the autumn, ‘and I am convinced that the team has a good chance of winning.’ The Finn, who last won the Dakar in 1991; is co-driven by Italian mother of two Fabrizia Pons.

Forty-four-year-old Sainz enjoyed a successful Dakar debut with Volkswagen in 2006, taking four stage wins and leading the rally for four days. ‘I learned a lot of new things during my first Dakar and the subsequent tests and events,’ said Carlos. ‘Hopefully I can now exploit this experience to the full.’ His co-driver, Frenchman Michel Périn, is one of the world’s most successful rally-raiders, with three Dakar wins under his belt already.

de Villiers is a multiple touring car champion who turned to rallying in 2000. The 34-year-old is a veteran of four Dakar Rallies and was second for Volkswagen in 2006, going on to win the Transiberico and Moroccan Rallies for the team. He is co-driven by Germany’s Dirk von Zitzewitz.

Works driver four is Arizonan Mark Miller, 44, who has been an off-road racer all his adult life and whose Volkswagen placed fifth on last year’s Dakar Rally. His co-driver is South Africa’s Ralph Pitchford.

Adds Nissen: ‘We wanted a mix of drivers and co-drivers who possessed not only speed and the will to win, but also maturity and experience. We achieved these targets with our squad. What is required on the Dakar Rally is a mixture of speed, car control and the ability to read the lie of the land.’

The route for next year’s marathon is a daunting one. Highlights include two Mauritanian stages totalling more than 1000 km from Atâr to Néma between which no service teams are permitted to work on the vehicles.

Volkswagen last won the Dakar in 1980 when Swede Freddy Kottulinsky drove his Iltis to victory. Mitsubishi, whose cars have won the event for the last six years, is expected to provide the chief opposition with both last year’s victor, Luc Alphand, and the 2004/’05 victor Stéphane Peterhansel, returning to the fray.

The Volkswagen team’s official partners are Red Bull, Castrol, BP Ultimate, BT infonet, BFGoodrich, ZF Sachs, Bosch and BBS.