Two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz will lead Volkswagen's line-up of drivers for the 24-hour race at the N?rburgring.
The two-time Le Mans winner Hans-Joachim Stuck and the two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz will lead Volkswagen's line-up of drivers for the 24-hour race at the N?rburgring. The three factory-developed racing versions of the Scirocco, which is making its d?but on the race track before its market launch, will be piloted by an unusual mix of seasoned rally and circuit drivers as well as young talent and journalists at the legendary motorsport marathon staged at the "Green Hell" on 24 and 25 May.
Greg Johnson
Alongside factory driver Carlos Sainz his rally team-mates Giniel de Villiers and Dieter Depping from cross-country rally sport are part of the line-up as well as Volkswagen Junior Jimmy Johansson and the seasoned touring car racers Florian Gruber, Thomas Mutsch and Francois Verbist. Prominent support from the Volkswagen Group will be provided to them by Hans-Joachim Stuck, who has been the company's motorsport representative since the beginning of this year, as well as by Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Volkswagen board member for technical development.
"My last circuit race dates back to the 1980s at the beginning of my career," said Carlos Sainz, who won the 2007 FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup with Volkswagen. "I've never driven a 24-hour race and am looking forward to it very much. I only know the N?rburgring from what others have told me about it and have heard that this race poses a very special challenge. I want to support the team as best I can, that's why I'm going to prepare myself thoroughly and will compete in a test race as well."
For Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and Dieter Depping, contesting the 24-hour race barely a month after competing in the Central Europe Rally in Hungary and Romania from 20 to 26 April represents a welcome, contrasting change. All three have experience in circuit racing. Giniel de Villiers won the touring car championship in his native South Africa in 1994 as well as from 1997 to 2000. Dieter Depping clinched class victory at the 24-Hour Race at the N?rburgring in the Golf GTI last year.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen is convinced that the drivers will cause a sensation at this tradition-rich race. "With this fantastic drivers' squad and the racing d?but of the Scirocco, which has attracted a lot of attention since its unveiling in Geneva, we're offering a real highlight to the crowd of some 200,000 spectators lining the circuit and the many TV viewers during the long live coverage on DSF," said Nissen. "Last year, the successful running of the Golf GTI with class victory and eighth place overall made a strong impression. Now, the Scirocco's entry means that a legend, which made its mark in racing as early as in the seventies and eighties, returns to the race track."
