“The smallest team in the Ultimate category!”
CREW FACTS
M.W.
- Markus made his debut in the race in 2018 -earning his spot through a project organized by BFGoodrich- but he was forced to retire through engine failure. Barely an hour after throwing in the towel, sat with his team in a Bolivian restaurant, he vowed to one day return and reach the finish line. And that's exactly what he did in 2020, coming 45th in the cars with former co-driver Tobi Henschel. He did even better in 2022, finishing 42nd with a Nissan Navara V8, built in South Africa by Red-Lined.
- Present for the fourth time, the 36-year-old German is competing with a new co-driver: Stephan Preuss, bikes finisher in 2022. He met him during the race, and the deal was made thanks to a message left on a WhatsApp group for German competitors! They took the final decision after doing Baja Spain to train and test their ability to work together.
- This edition will be a family affair for the crew of car #258. The team manager is Markus's father Gerhard, who began competing in the Dakar in the 1980s and took part in no fewer than eight editions. Gerhard also worked on the preparation of the car, taking advantage of the fact that he retired from the family business. His son Markus is now managing their family bike shop!
S.P.
- Stephan made his first steps into the rally business in the Marlboro Adventure Team in 1997 in Canada and Utah, but it became finally serious in the Tuareg Rallye in Morocco, on the old playground of the Dakar Rally. He gained skills by competing in other races, until entering the Dakar in 2022. The biggest adventure of his life at 48 years old. He succeeded in doing it, alongside his brother Thomas!
- Project manager in solar farms, the German rider hopes to gain a second bikes finisher medal in the future. But for now, he will compete in Ultimate for the first time, with a Nissan Navarra made by Red-Lined! Stephan will be the co-driver of his compatriot Markus Walcher, met during the 2022 edition. A new and challenging experience for him, even if he has already done a few car races in the past.
- Stephan is sponsored by a fashion brand with the slogan “Reality beats fiction by far”. He’s keen to prove that it's better to be living your dream out on the track than sat at home on the computer. With the sale of branded hoodies and t-shirts, he is also raising money to help children get out of their homes and go and enjoy some real adventures.
2025 AMBITION
M.W.: “My plan was to do the Dakar every two years, but I became a father last year and that changed the plans! My son was born in June 2024 and I wanted to be with him for his first year of life. Now he is teething, so the nights are short; it’s a good training for the Dakar! We will be the smallest team in the Ultimate category. There will be only five people: me, my co-driver, my father and two friends working with us. The challenge for our T1.1 car is getting bigger and bigger, because the stages are now prepared for T1+. It’s more and more difficult for us but we like challenges! We still think that it’s possible to do it. That’s our goal. We don’t say that we want to catch Nasser, just to see the finish line!”
S.P.: “Dakar was my childhood dream, when we -my brother and I- watched it on TV with my father at 5 or 6 years old. We realized our dream by participating in the Dakar in 2022! It’s a great honor to now be Markus’ co-driver. We did the Baja Spain and we found that we match together. It’s very different to be in this position. I have experience in car racing, I’ve done a few rallies, so let’s say that I’m not completely new in car business. I’m a kind of experienced rookie! We have one of the only T1.1 cars facing the T1+, so we want to have fun and -above all- to finish. We expect a tough rally because they changed a lot the style of the race to fit better to T1+ cars: dunes are higher, stones are bigger… We have to see how we can survive! As in 2022, I ride with my brother’s fashion brand whose slogan is 'Reality beats fiction by far'. We want to motivate young people not to stay at home, in front of the computer, doing things virtually, but to get out and do it in real life! It’s a kind of state of mind.”
