Dakar 2010: Volkswagen team reveals new website

Dakar 2009 Stage 14 final results, photos and videos: Giniel de Villiers wins for Volkswagen Motorsport

Photo: Willy Weyens ©willyweyens-rallyworld

With only one week to go before the "Dakar" starts defending champions Volkswagen presents itself in the internet to reflect the world's toughest rally.

With immediate effect the official website www.volkswagen-motorsport.com concentrates solely on the "Dakar" and offers every feature directly on the homepage. While the comprehensive preliminary reports and all background information about the five Volkswagen Race Touaregs and their driver line-ups are already online, the popular Iritrack-System, with which fans can follow their "Dakar" heroes live throughout their 9,300-kilometre journey through Argentina and Chile, starts again to coincide with the prologue on 2 January.

News, photographs, sound bites, videos, results, profiles, looks behind the scenes - these are just a few elements of the comprehensive coverage offered by last year's winner and runner-up to its fans. In addition, the website presents the technology used in the 300 hp diesel powered Touareg and gives a detailed description of every one of the 14 stages including all their peculiarities and unique features. Links take the user directly to other highlights for Volkswagen and "Dakar" fans: Co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz and driver Mark Miller keep the entire world up to date via "Twitter".

The Iritrack-System goes online again when the five Touaregs around defending champion Giniel de Villiers roll over the start ramp on 2 January 2010 in Buenos Aires. Iritrack is a satellite supported system for position verification with which the Dakar Rally race stewards can determine the position and speed of participants at any time. Volkswagen brings this service to the fans: The signal can be followed in real-time on the website, it provides current split times by mouse click, intervals as well as the respective positions. The heart of the system is a small transponder distributed by the rally organiser A.S.O. and which is mounted to every vehicle.

Last but not least: On the newly designed "Dakar" look www.volkswagen-motorsport.com homepage there is obviously also a direct link to the new iPhone app which enjoys great popularity: In the first few days after publication almost 6,500 people have downloaded the free program and are now also permanently informed on-the-move of all the latest news about Volkswagen and the Dakar Rally.

source: vw

Issue 111 of Handbrakes & Hairpins, your favourite source for rally entertainment.

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