Volkswagen prepares for WRC

[Watercool]

Volkswagen boss Kris Nissen hailed Giniel de Villiers’s win of the Dakar Rally as “historic” after the South African became the first man to win the Dakar in a diesel car, during the first time the event took place outside of Africa. De Villiers was followed home by his teammate, American Mark Miller, with the team winning 10 of the 13 stages.

“It’s definitely been a historic occasion and Giniel has done an incredible job” said Nissen. “Winning the Dakar is the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. There are so many unknowns that predictions beforehand are impossible; particularly as we were driving in South America for the first time. This makes it all the more rewarding that Volkswagen prevailed with a one-two victory. I feel sorry that we lost our most competitive crew so close to the end, but this only underlines just how tricky it is to succeed on this epic event.”

Two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz crashed out of a comfortable half-hour lead with just two days to go, with the Spaniard blaming the organizers’ road book for its lack of precision. His Race Touareg fell into a four-meter deep ditch, and a shoulder injury for co-driver Michel Perin ruled them out of continuing.

While Volkswagen finally won the Dakar at its third attempt with the Race Touareg, Mitsubishi was left to rue a disastrous Dakar debut for the new Racing Lancer. A combination of bad reliability and bad luck eliminated all of the team’s leading drivers, with just a 10th place finish for Spaniard Nani Roma proving to be of little consolation.

In other major Volkswagen news, the company now appears set to announce its decision to enter the World Rally Championship in the near future. The German firm’s primary aim for this season was to win Dakar before focusing its attention on the next stage of its motorsport program.

Volkswagen's Nissen confirmed the decision on VW’s future would come imminently.

“We have looked at the World Rally Championship and we have been keen to investigate whether [the WRC] would be possible as well as the Dakar or instead of Dakar,” he said

Nissen added that a continued global motorsport program was vital for Volkswagen.

“VW is one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers,” he commented. “International competition is really important and sure, the Dakar is international competition, but so is the WRC.”