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World Record driver Rainer Zietlow and the two Russian journalists Petr Bakanov from Auto Mail.Ru, Georgy Golubev from Klaxon set up a new world record time in April 2017. In just three days and four hours, they lead the new Volkswagen Amarok V6 with 225 hp the 8,000 kilometers from Dakar to Moscow. For Rainer Zietlow it was the sixth long distance world record and his second world record drive with a Volkswagen Amarok.

The team set off from the old Hotel de Ville in Dakar at 2 a.m. on April 22 and followed its route through Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania Latvia and Russia. On April 25, around 10 a.m., the team arrived in the Russian capital, Moscow. The Volkswagen Amarok V6, which came from the press pool of Volkswagen Commercial Cars in Hanover, Germany, had no extra modifications for this endurance challenge other than two additional fuel tanks on the pick-up and a LED high-beam light in the front.

The most difficult part was the 3,260 kilometers long stretch through Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. Not only bumpy sandy roads, several border crossings and deep potholes made progress difficult. There were also camels, goats and donkeys on the road again and again. An important stopover was the catamaran ferry in the port of Tangier. It was finally reached on time, so that hardly any time was lost waiting.

Rainer Zietlow has been supporting the SOS Children’s Villages with his projects since 2005. This time he donated 1,500 euros to an Children’s Village in Dakar. The team visited the Children’s Village on April 20, to hand over the donation, which amounts to around 20 euro cents per kilometer driven.