RED BULL CHOOSES LAND ROVER

Land Rover will support the Red Bull Desert Wings team on the 2014 Dakar rally, providing five back-up vehicles for 3000-mile event.

A Defender will be one of the five vehicles supporting the Red Bull Desert Wings team on the 2014 Dakar rally

Red Bull Desert Wings incorporates various teams from each of the three rally classes: bikes, cars and trucks. Among the team’s drivers are double WRC champion Carlos Sainz, 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers, and 2013 Dakar truck class winner Eduard Nikolaev.

Among the support vehicles, a Range Rover Sport Supercharged will follow the actual Dakar route, ferrying a team of photographers. The other four vehicles, including a Defender 130 Hi-Cap, Discovery and the all-new Range Rover will follow the support route.

The Land Rover-supported Race2Recovery team of injured soldiers will also get to use the Red Bull Bivouac, as they return to Dakar in 2014 and aim to get all three of its vehicles to the finish.

The Dakar rally will cover just under miles of some of the toughest terrain in the world, starting on January 5 in Rosario, Argentina and finishing in Valparaiso, Chile on January 18. See www.dakar.com

Mark Cameron, Jaguar Land Rover Global Brand Experience Director said: ‘The Red Bull Desert Wings team sought a vehicle partner with all-terrain expertise to reliably support the various entrants in the toughest race in the world. I am delighted that they have come to us. The all-new Range Rover Sport will provide a combination of superior off-road capability, and sure-footedness which will put the photographers in good stead to capture the best moments of the race.’

We’re hoping this is the start of an association that could one day see a factory-backed assault on the Dakar. A Red Bull liveried Range Rover Sport-based buggy would look the business, wouldn’t it?