MAN Nutzfahrzeuge - MAN as a partner

KTM and MAN

The KTM Rally Team led by manager Hans Trunkenpolz looks back on a successful Dakar past: with seven victories in a row, the Austrian manufacturer has been in command of the motorcycle race in the Dakar. In 2007, KTM landed on the first four places.

For many years now, the successful KTM motor sports team has relied on trucks from MAN. Semitrailer tractors from the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group take the bikes to the European racetracks; two-axle and three-axle versions that can handle high terrain serve the KTM machines during the Dakar Rally as a 'mobile intervention force': the two T4 trucks, a brand-new TGS 18.480 4x4 BB and a proven MAN LE 18.280.

4x4 BB stay hot on the heels of the KTM factory riders in order to be able to carry out repairs on the motorcycles in the event of an incident in the middle of the desert. As the KTM machines are always at the front of the field, the trucks and their crews also have to be right up there with them. A TGS 26.480 6x6 waits at the evening camp.
www.ktm.at

Volkswagen Motorsport and MAN

At the Dakar Rally 2008, Volkswagen Motorsport is sending four Race Touaregs of the latest evolution level to the starting grid. The South African-German crew of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz will attempt to match the place on the rostrum achieved by the South African in 2006 for Volkswagen. The never-tiring Spanish WRC retiree Carlos Sainz already showed his talent in the sand at the Dakar 2006. This year, his navigator is the Frenchman Michel Périn, who also brings along many years of experience on the right-hand seat of the Touareg.

The team of Mark Miller / Ralph Pitchford will also take part in the race.

Last year's MAN-T4 driver, Dieter Depping, will head for the starting grid with navigator Timo Gottschalk and put the experience gained from the truck into practice in the car. The VW fleet is reinforced by the private Lagos team with the Portuguese Carlos Sousa and his Munich navigation ace, Andreas Schulz.

As proven partners since the start of the project in 2003: two-axle and three-axle all-wheel-drive trucks from MAN, which carry nor only the spare parts for the Race Touareg but also the entire equipment. A total of three MAN TGS 4x4s and 6x6s on the stages and eight MAN trucks in service, five of which are brand-new TGS 26.480 6x6s, provide support.
www.volkswagen-motorsport.de

BMW X-raid and MAN

After the Dakar premiere 2006 with a rally version of the BMW X3, the X-raid team rigourously continued the development work on the X3CC. In the same way as the two proven X5CCs, this racer is driven by a 3.0-litre BMW diesel engine. At the Dakar 2008, three X3CCs as well as two X5CCs will be heading for the starting grid. In the race, this white-blue (colours of Bavaria) caravan will be followed by two MAN TGS 18.480 4x4 BBs and a TGS 26.480 6x6 with essential spare parts, while six TGS 28.480 6x6 BBs will await the arrival of the racing vehicles in the evening camp.

With the signing of Bruno Saby for the Dakar 2007, the pilot with the greatest number of years of experience heads for the starting grid - Dakar winner in the Mitsubishi Pajero and World Cup winner in the Volkswagen Race Touareg. With the two pairings of Al-Attiyah / Guehennec and Chicherit / Baumel, the door signs have remained the same since 2006, supplemented by a private X3CC. Two X5CCs will be deployed behind them.
www.x-raid.de

Mitsubishi and MAN

Mitsubishi celebrated its seventh victory in a row at the Dakar 2007 and its twelfth triumph in total at the desert classic. At the Dakar 2008, Mitsubishi will hit the start with a new evolution level of the Pajero. The crews paired for the new vehicles are accustomed to winning: Alphand / Picard, Peterhansel / Corrett as well as Masuoka / Maimon and Roma / Cruz.

Now that a MAN 18.280 4x4 BB as T4 is already hot on the heels of the fast Franco-Japanese, Mitsubishi has switched its service vehicle fleet to MAN TGA 28.480 6x6 BB since Dakar 2007 and will be observing very closely how the new TGSs do in the race this year.
www.mitsubishi-motors.com

Dakar favourites rely on MAN