Silk Way Rally favorite Volkswagen

With its four Race Touareg 2s entrusted to its official drivers (Giniel De Villiers, Carlos Sainz, Mark Miller and Nasser Al Attiyah), the Volkswagen Motorsport team is the clear favorite for the Silk Way Rally.

Published on 04/09/2009 à 15:29

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Volkswagen, the only official team at the start, is considering its trip as “life-size” training before the 2010 Dakar, both for its drivers and for the mechanics. Faced with this armada, the outsiders, like Christian Lavieille (Nissan Dessoude N03), Philippe Gache (SMG buggy), Alexei Berkut (Mitsubishi Pajero MPR 10) or Miroslav Zapletal (Mitsubishi L200) can only hope for places of honor.

An event labeled “Dakar Series”, the Silk Way Rally benefits from the technical and sporting support of ASO (the organizer of the Dakar). This first edition attracted a total of around sixty car competitors, as well as 20 trucks (including the Kamaz, Iveco-De Rooy, and Tatra teams). Note that contrary to usual, motorcycles were not allowed in this rally-raid.

The event will begin on Saturday June 5 with a prologue of 2,013 km, traced at the foot of the hotel where the technical checks took place. It will continue through the Republic of Tatarstan (member of the Russian Federation), Kazakhstan and finally Turkmenistan, with eight stages traced in the steppes of Central Asia. The finish will be judged on Sunday September 13 in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.