N°908 Classic Ruppert Motorsport

CHRISTIAN RUPPERT

(deu) 1.8m / 85kg

Hobbies

moto-cross, sidecar racing

Sponsors

Schmidbaur, Klein, Weich Solar, ITW, Hydraulik-Paule, Fenix

2022: 92nd (Classic)

24 Hours German Off-Road Masters
Over 300 motorcycle races
3rd in the German sidecar cross championship
6th in the German sidecar road racing championship

Interview

“It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime adventure…”

Christian and Ursula Ruppert have been passionate motorsport competitors their entire adult life. They met at a moto-x circuit, married a year later and have raced sidecars both on and off-road right up until 2018 when they decided to hang up their handlebars. Throughout this time the Dakar was a distant dream that became an unexpected reality when they entered a Mercedes G-Wagon in the 2022 Dakar Classic. It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime adventure but on their return they gave a series of ‘behind the scenes’ talks about their adventures that brought all the memories flooding back. So of course they had to return, but this time with a Mercedes truck and their 22 year old moto-x racer son Matias.


C.R.: “We had a fantastic time on the 2022 edition. What surprised us the most was how friendly the Dakar competitors were to us. On the rest day they all came to see our cars and chat with us, even the big stars. One of the other German competitors had a problem with his car and Nasser (Al Attiyah) got involved and found him some spares! It really was like a big family. As far as the competition went, given that we had no experience in regularity rallies, we were doing much better than expected, until the penultimate day when we had to leave the stage after a problem with our rear shock absorbers. That cost us a load of time in penalties and caused us to plummet down the rankings…. I suppose it was inevitable that we would come back and then we had the idea of entering a truck so our son could come with us. We found our Mercedes in Italy. It did 3 Dakars as a race truck and then 2 or 3 as a service truck before being parked up for about 5 years. Fortunately, it had been properly looked after, but it has still been a lot of work to prepare the truck for the Classic.”

Vehicle

Ruppert Motorsport

MERCEDES 1735 SK/AK
RUPPERT MOTORSPORT

  • MERCEDES
  • 1735 SK/AK
  • RUPPERT Motorsport
  • Ginaf X3329
  • Classic Truck (Low average) 87-96

Ranking 2024

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