15 days till the 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile

Spectacular driving footage, fascinating landscape, the myth of the most famous and demanding rally - the legendary Dakar Rally provides breathtaking pictures on TV screens around the world year in year out. When the four Volkswagen Race Touaregs roll across the start ramp at the beginning of January in Buenos Aires the media event "Dakar”, which sets superlatives itself, starts at the same time. During the South American premiere of the classic desert rally between 3 and 18 January the interest is directed at the 530 participants and their cars, motorbikes, trucks and quads and more specifically at the competition between Volkswagen and its rivals like Mitsubishi and X-raid-BMW.

The unique and varied pictures produced by the rally classic are seen on television screens in 189 countries. Even more numbers document the media event "Dakar”: Eighty TV channels cover this mammoth event, 16 TV channels accompany the complete rally, over 800 journalists are accredited, 125 daily newspaper copy editors representing 96 international publications accompany the huge event with its 14 daily stages over 9,500 kilometres through Argentina and Chile.

On top of this come approximately 40 photographers and ten picture agencies and 30 radio reporters.

"After Formula 1 the Dakar Rally numbers among the largest and most reported event in international motorsport,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "Whoever survives and has success proves their technical expertise at the absolute highest level – and can be sure of generating enormously high and worldwide public interest in the process. This also makes the ‘Dakar’ a lucrative platform for a manufacturer.”

Over 600 hours of TV coverage
When the Volkswagen factory drivers Carlos Sainz (E), Giniel de Villiers (ZA), Mark Miller (USA) and Dieter Depping (D) head towards finish areas each day they are eagerly awaited by a sea of TV cameras and microphones. The combined TV coverage, which is followed by several hundred million people, exceeds 600 hours annually.