Touareg News
Motor Sportsman of the Year
Volkswagen driver Giniel de Villiers, the first South African to clinch victory in the grueling Dakar Rally in his diesel-powered Touareg, has won the coveted 2009 Bridgestone/Guild of Motoring Journalists ‘Motor Sportsman of the Year’ award.
The prestigious award, honouring outstanding and special achievements by South Africans in motorsport, was presented for the 17th time this year. Previous winners include South Africa’s only Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter, and more recently MotoCross World champion Greg Albertyn.
De Villiers, who was born in Robertson in 1972, contested his first touring car race in 1993, won the South African Production Car Championship in 1994, was South African Touring Car Champion from 1997 to 2000 and became South African Off-road Champion in 2000.
In 2005 he joined the Volkswagen Team and, in 2006, proved to be one of the stars of the season as he raced to victory in the Rally Transiberico and Rally Morocco. He has a superb record in the Dakar Rally, arguably the toughest race in the world. In 2006 he finished second in the North African desert and in 2009 he beat his team-mate Mark Miller by nine minutes to win the first Dakar in South America. For the 37-year-old professional racer it was the sixth time he participated in the Dakar Rally.
De Villiers hopes that the Dakar will return to Africa and believes it might even be held in South Africa in the future. He says that, although organisers want to bring the rally back to Africa, North Africa might be problematic because of safety issues. However, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola are great countries to host an event of this kind.
In his private life de Villiers, who lives in Stellenbosch, prefers spending his time on outdoor activities like kite surfing, golf and motorcycles.
