On October 28, Great Wall Motors officially announced that its Hover Soaring Dragon Racing Team will join hands with Zhou Yong, China's new generation king of car races, to attend the Dakar Rally 2011.
At the press release site, Zhan Guojun, Vice Chairman of Federation of Automobile Sports of China (FASC), presented Zhou Yong the pennant "Team of China" and expressed his hope that Soaring Dragon Racing Team would once again showcase China's strength and put on a good performance.
Dakar Rally has been reputed for "the most difficult and adventurous racing trip in the world", and is a top competition for the mankind to challenge nature, himself and technology. In January 2010, Great Wall Motors made the breakthrough by becoming the first Chinese car brand to show up at Dakar Rally. It not only finished the whole course of the competition, but ranked 33rd in total scores.
After presenting the pennant to Soaring Dragon Racing Team, Zhan Guojun said: "Dakar Rally is the world top off-road racing contest. China's own car manufacturer's heading for the event not only reflects China's auto sports level and its important role in the world's car racing contests, but also displays the company's great ambition to shift to an international brand through tenacious efforts despite dangers and difficulties. I hope Great Wall Motors can represent all the participating teams and drivers of Chinese and plant our banner of victory on the summit of success."
Soaring Dragon Racing Car for this event will remain a Haval SUV, which has gone through tests of the market and consumers and boasts perfected quality. Since its launch into the market in 2005, Haval SUV has been the best-seller for 7 consecutive years, and is the backbone of domestic SUV brands in their competition with joint venture co-brands as an equal.
In the presence of the media, a ceremony for the delivery of the 400,000th Haval SUV was held in the press release site. The key of the Haval SUV was handed over to Zhou Yong, king of car races, for temporary safe-keeping. After the Dakar Rally, the historic key will be formally awarded to the honorary driver selected out from Great Wall Motors' "Dakar Rally on My Mind" contest candidates, who have been involved in the event.
Vice President of Great Wall Motors Dong Ming emphasized that: "after 7 years of hard work, Haval SUV has made a number of miracles, for example, becoming the best seller, the No. 1 export brand, and the best model. All these have formed a force enabling the domestic brand Haval SUV to be a strong rival of joint venture products. Today, on the occasion of our second march to Dakar Rally, we sincerely hope that the owners of 400,000 Haval SUV can share with us the glory of Hover as 'China's No. 1 SUV Brand', and feel the wildness and passion Dakar Rally brings us".
In the press release site, Great Wall Motors also held the inaugural ceremony for "Dakar Technology Research Center", the first of its kind in China.
It's reported that, on January 1 next year, Dakar Rally 2011 will open in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. Lifting the flag "Team of China", Soaring Dragon Racing Car will be speeding across the vast expanse of Gobi Desert in South America and creating glory for China.
