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The 2008 edition of the Sertões International Rally will have the presence of the German Volkswagen factory team. The company confirmed the participation of the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 in this years largest Cross Country Rally that will be held from June 17th to 28th, starting off from the city of Goiânia for the seventh straight year and finishing in Natal (RN) or Salvador (BA). The event is part of the FIA (Automobile International Federation) calendar and the Volkswagen cars are confirmed in the FIA T1 prototype regulation class.

The team will count with the work of 40 professionals and 4 assistance trucks for the Sertões Int´l Rally. The drivers and navigators that will encounter the adversities o f the Brazilian countryside for the first time have not been confirmed yet. The factory has 5 possible teams: Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk; Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford; Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn; Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz; and Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz.

With vast experience in the Dakar Rally the Volkswagen team finished it in second place last year. The German team has very expressive victories with the Volkswagen Race Touareg: won the FIA Cross Country World Cup last year with Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn and in 2005 with Michel Périn/Bruno Saby.

In 2005, Bruno Saby and his navigator Michel Périn were the fastest of the Por Las Pampas Rally, Morroco and Orient Rally. In the following year De Villiers and his team-mate Von Zitzewitz won the Transiberico Rally and the Morocco Rally. Volks was successful again in 2007 at the Transiberico Rally with Sainz and Périn, and at the Morroco Rally with De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz.

Basides the car s and trucks, the Sertões International Rally is a round of the Cross Country Rally World Championship for motorcycles and quads. The route, which is being kept in secret by the organization, will have approximately 5000 kms and will be announced on April 22nd.

Press Release