SOURCE: 2006 Team Volkswagen Touareg

Carlos Sainz and his Volkswagen Race Touareg prototype

The 2006 Dakar Rally is an event of superlatives: 508 participants, including, for the first time, five Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 prototypes, set off on the long 9,043 kilometre journey from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar in the Senegal on the 31 December. A number game of spare parts, ready-made soups, diesel and tents.

5 Volkswagen Race Touareg prototypes start in the 2006 "Dakar”. The works drivers and their co-drivers: Jutta Kleinschmidt/Fabrizia Pons, Mark Miller/Dirk von Zitzewitz, Bruno Saby/Michel Périn, Carlos Sainz/Andy Schulz and Giniel de Villiers/Tina Thörner

12 Tents serving as offices for engineers, doctors, physiotherapists and co-drivers and as mobile workshops for the five Race Touareg prototypes are erected every evening

14 Is the number of Dakar Rallies Jutta Kleinschmidt has already contested and therefore starts number fifteen this time

15 Stages are to be completed during the 2006 Dakar Rally between the 31 December and 15 January. There is only a single rest day on 8 January

16 Days is the duration of the desert rally from Lisbon to Dakar

25 Tonnes of spare parts and equipment are transported in seven Volkswagen team trucks, including 400 wheels already fitted with tyres

27 Is the number of times that the Dakar Rally has been held to date. The 28th event starts on 31 December

28 Vehicles make up the Volkswagen fleet: 5 Race Touareg 2, 2 Race Trucks, 8 Service Trucks, 1 TV Truck, 2 Volkswagen T5 Transporters, 10 Service Touareg

31 Kilometres is the length of the shortest "Dakar” stage – the traditional final stage on Lac Rose in Dakar on 15 January

50 Square metres of dressing material can be found in the extensive equipment belonging to the team Doctors. Not forgetting 1000 pain killers, 1000 malaria tablets, 400 charcoal tablets, 200 throat lozenges and 150 bottles of eye drops

78 Team members travel with the accompanying vehicle armada for the entire duration of the rally

78 One-man tents for the team in the desert bivouacs are transported

80 Per cent of the Race Touareg 2 components were changed from its predecessor

188 Vehicles start the car classification and therefore represent the Volkswagen team's competition

240 Vehicles form the accompanying vehicle armada at the Dakar Rally

508 Participants start in Lisbon: 240 motorbikes, 188 cars and 80 trucks

560 Hours of TV coverage about the 2006 Dakar Rally are scheduled

599 Kilometres are covered during the longest stage on 9 January from Nouakchott to Kiffa

780 Journalists are accredited for the Dakar Rally

1,560 T-Shirts will be required by the team during the rally

1,787.5 Kilograms is the minimum weight of the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2

2,000 Ready-made soups are prepared as snacks for the team. Breakfast, dinner and a lunch pack are given daily to the team members at the bivouac by the organisers

3,300 Parts make up the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 (excluding engine and gearbox), 1,200 parts are accounted for only on the space-frame

4,200 Square metres is the size of the Volkswagen bivouac that is erected every evening at the stage finish

4,813 Kilometre are driven against the clock in the 15 stages during the 2006 "Dakar”

9,043 Kilometres – this is the length of this year's "Dakar” route from Lisbon to Dakar

78,000 Litres of diesel was ordered in advance from the organizers for the complete Volkswagen vehicle armada

80,000 Watts are produced by Volkswagen team's generators during the 16 days of the rally

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