4×4S.ORGTHE REGISTRY NAMED MODEL · 2003–11
NAMED MODELSpecial · MotorsportGermany

Race Touareg (2003–11)

Volkswagen’s Dakar car: the Race Touareg, which won the rally outright three years running — Giniel de Villiers in 2009, Carlos Sainz in 2010 with a one-two-three, and Nasser Al-Attiyah in 2011.

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Sources & evidence
BASE VEHICLETouareg (7L and 7P, 2002–18)BUILT BYVolkswagen MotorsportIN SERVICE2003–11PRODUCTIONCompetition vehicleLAYOUT4 wheels · 112″

The record

The Race Touareg shared its name with the road car and very little else: a tubular spaceframe with a 2.5-litre TDI five built by Volkswagen Motorsport at Hanover. The 2009 win was the first by a diesel in the Dakar’s car class in thirty years, and the 2010 result was a clean sweep of the podium.

Specification

MANUFACTURED2003–11
ENGINE2.5-litre five-cylinder TDI competition engine, about 280 PSVolkswagen 2.5 R5 TDI
PRODUCTION RUNCompetition vehicle
COUNTRY OF ORIGINGermany
STATUScompetition vehicle
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINETouareg
FAMILYTouareg
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE112″
BODY STYLEwagon
CATEGORYSpecial · Motorsport

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Variants & colours

Base model variants

Factory colours

  • Deep Black

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from a 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the specification, the photographs and the cited sources on this page.

Sources

  1. 1Volkswagen Touareg ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-23SOURCE
  2. 2Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 ↗Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-23SOURCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-23 · status: researched