The evolution of a winner: When the Dakar Rally kicks off on 01 January 2010 with the ceremonial start in Buenos Aires the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 will move across the starting ramp with detailed improvements.

Last year’s winning vehicle has been designed to master any type of terrain at racing speed: The world’s hottest desert? Awe-inspiring altitudes at two crossings of the Andes? High-speed stretches across gravel? To tackle these challenges, the engineers from Volkswagen subjected the roughly 300-hp "Dakar” prototype with a TDI diesel power-plant to continuous further development. "Expect the unexpected” is one of the "Dakar’s” principles. The Race Touareg is ready to accomplish this feat. "The Dakar Rally is an unrelenting motorsport cross-country marathon at which reliability is of paramount importance,” says Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director. "The ‘Dakar’ equates to the distance of an entire Formula 1 season. During the rally the prototypes have to handle extreme mechanical loads, highly varied terrain and major temperature differences.”
 
Long distances, highly varied terrain, maintenance in extreme conditions
9,500 kilometres from ocean to ocean and back: The Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile is the world’s toughest motorsport cross-country marathon. Every day, quick gravel stretches alternate several times with deep sand. As well as undulating, twisty sections with narrow trails, crossings of flat, wide lowland plains are on the agenda. The two crossings of the Andes when the teams cross the borders between Argentina and Chile involve altitudes of up to 4,700 metres above mean sea level and pose particular challenges. In all of these conditions Volkswagen as the winning squad of the 2009 "Dakar” will be able to draw on valuable experiences in 2010. For example, a sophisticated high-altitude application for the engine electronics was already developed before the end of the year. It limits power output and performance losses due to the lower oxygen content at higher altitudes despite the required interventions.