News from Dakar

Dakar Rally 2006

Mark Miller Completes Volkswagen Squad for Dakar Rally

Wolfsburg (13 September 2005). The Volkswagen works team for the 2006 Dakar Rally is complete: The American Mark Miller will drive the fifth Volkswagen Race-Touareg, his co-driver on the desert classic, which starts in Lisbon on 31 December, is the German Dirk von Zitzewitz.

The two former motorcyclists team-up with current Volkswagen works drivers Bruno Saby/Michel Perin (F/F), Jutta Kleinschmidt/Fabrizia Pons (D/I), Carlos Sainz/Andy Schulz (E/D) and Giniel de Villiers/Tina Thörner (RSA/S). "I got to know the Touareg at the test in Morocco and am totally impressed. I realise a dream by signing for Volkswagen”, explains the 42-year old Mark Miller, who lives in Arizona and Colorado.

The former financial consultant and current professional driver has already collected valuable experience on both two and four wheels during previous desert rallies. Furthermore, he also made a name for himself racing ‘on track' in the Truck series of the American NASCAR Championship. Mark Miller has already competed twice with co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz in the 2002 and 2004 Dakar Rallies. "Mark and I got to know each other as motorcyclists and team mates during the Atlas Rally in Morocco in 1998. We have been friends ever since”, says Dirk von Zitzewitz, who hit the headlines, together with the American Robby Gordon in the Touareg, during the 2004 Dakar Rally. "Dirk's work is enormously important for our success”, explains Mark Miller. "As former motorcyclists we also have a special, very down-to-earth way of communicating with each other.”

"We are very pleased to have gained an experienced driver like Mark Miller for the ‘Dakar', explains Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director. "We put various candidates in the hot seat, but he impressed us the most with his professional way of working. He drove faultlessly on two test days.” Mark Miller will be involved in the extensive Volkswagen works team test programme leading up to the Dakar Rally. "I can't wait to get started”, says Miller. "At the tests I was impressed with just how hard and dedicated the team works. I felt immediately at home. Even though everybody speaks English I plan to learn German as quickly as possible.”

"Mark Miller will spend the next few weeks in Germany to get to know the team better”, adds Kris Nissen. A visit to the EuroSpeedway Lausitz on 18 September, where the Turkish Volkswagen Polo Ladies Cup makes a guest appearance during the DTM weekend, is on the new Volkswagen works driver's agenda.