4th January, 2007
Team MAXDATA Mercedes-Benz and Ellen Lohr: Starting signal for the Dakar has been given
On 6th January in Lisbon, Ellen Lohr and Antonia de Roissard will start into the rich in tradition desert rally.
Follow the rally route via the World Wide Web
New sponsors aboard: Recross AG and insurer Ermis
The scrutineering of the competition and service cars, held in Lisbon today, represented the official 2007 Dakar Rally starting signal for Team ?MAXDATA Mercedes-Benz?. The rally car of Ellen Lohr and her French co-driver, Antonia de Roissard, a prototype based on the Mercedes-Benz M-Class, will bear the competition number 324 when starting into the event in Lisbon, on 6th January, with the race Unimog being entered with competition number 560. ?We are going to face two and a half truly exhausting weeks,? says Germany?s most successful female motor racing allrounder, ?But we are well prepared for the challenge represented by the 2007 Dakar. My new, marathon rally-proven co-driver also adds to our team?s professionalisation. It?s our goal to make it to the finish ramp in Dakar, on 21st January. Yet, a look at the record book proves that it will be anything but easy to achieve this goal. In 2006, just about 40 percent of the car-category entrants made it to the finish. This means, that the chances of finishing are smaller than the ones of failing! The Dakar most definitely is the toughest rally of the world ? but that?s exactly what makes it that extraordinarily attractive.?
Follow the rally ? be very close via the World Wide Web
There even are several opportunities to witness the rally action and ? in particular ? the events around Team MAXDATA Mercedes-Benz at first hand, in the World Wide Web. For Ellen Lohr?s traditional rally diary, please visit
www.maxdata.com,
www.carat-dakar.com and
www.adrivo.de. Furthermore, team partner MAXDATA provides a tracking service: from 6th January, the two competition cars entered by the team, the rally prototype and the race Unimog, can be virtually accompanied. The system works truly simply: just enter the respective competition number (324/560) and you will see the current position of the two vehicles.
The Dakar Rally will be started on 6th January in Lisbon and will end 15 days later, on 21st January, in Senegal?s capital, Dakar. The total distance adds up to 7,915 kilometres, with 4,309 kilometres being covered as special stages. The route takes the competitors through Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal.
Additional sponsors aboard
There are two new partners that have joined the team?s sponsoring pool featuring renowned international partners such as the PRAMAC Group or the CARAT Group: the ?Recross AG? and the motor racing insurance company ?Ermis?. The Recross AG consults and accompanies enterprises on the way to their initial public offer. While doing so, it provides a full service up to and including professional public relations. In addition, the team around Ellen Lohr is supported by the still young company ?Ermis?. Ermis is a subsidiary of Quantum Insurance Ltd that specialises in motor racing insurances.
