Porsche N.A names TransSyberian Rally Teams

To compete in one of the world's most difficult rally events, the 2007 TransSyberian Rally, Porsche Cars of North America (PCNA) will be fielding three specially prepared Cayennes. Beginning August 3, and covering 3,850 miles of forest, desert, mountains, and plains, the route will pit the Cayennes against 47 other entrants on the 15 day expedition from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

The 2008 Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberia vehicles used for the rally have had a set of special safety equipment added in preparation for the rally. Based on the standard Cayenne S, the race vehicles remain mechanically identical to their street-bound parent right down to the stock 4.8-liter, 385 horsepower V-8 engine. Each participant is fitted with a full rollcage along with racing-style seatbelts, auxiliary lighting, and skid plates, among other features.

The rally will be composed of two teams from the U.S. and one from Canada. Meaning, the three entrants will be divided into three separate teams with two drivers on each team. Rod Millen, Jeff Zwart, and Paul Dallenbach -- all former winners in various disciplines, are among the employed drivers for the event.

The North American teams will compete against entries from Europe, South and Central America and Asia, including other teams driving Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberias.

Visit www.porsche.com/all/Transsyberia2007/international.aspx for more information on the TransSyberian Rally or the Porsches entrants.

The team lineups from Porsche include Team USA 1, Team USA 2, and Team Canada.

Team USA 1 is composed of Rod Millen and Richard Kelsey. Millen has won rally championships on three continents. He has reached a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and led the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Racing series winning the truck title three years in a row. He is also a multi-time overall winner of the famous Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Kelsey has won both as a driver and co-driver at the Baja 1000, The Pike's Peak Hill Climb and the SCCA National Rally Championship.

Team USA 2 is composed of Jeff Zwart and Paul Dallenbach. Between the two, the team has accumulated nine overall and class championships at the Pike's Peak Hill Climb, the 2nd oldest race in the U.S. Moreover, Zwart has been a U.S. Open Class PRO Rally champion and a class-winner at the abhorrent Baja 1000. Meanwhile, Dallenbach is a three-time winner of the Alcan Rally and a racer in almost every professional road-race series in SCCA and IMSA.

Team Canada is composed of Kees Nierop and Laurance Yap. Nierop has bagged the overall win in the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring aside from many other endurance racing wins. He was a Rothman's Porsche Cup champion, and co-drove the Porsche 961 (the racing version of the iconic Porsche 959) for the factory team. Yap is an award-winning journalist and photographer from Toronto, Canada who writes for publications like Driven, the Toronto Star and CanadianDriver.Com.

Aside from producing quality Porsche boxter parts in match with that of ingen cold air intake. Porsche has also proven their worth in the field of racing.