Zietlow brakes Carretera Panamericana record

Rainer Zietlow and his team, driving a Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI have set a new course record in the renowned Carretera Panamericana race. The driver has run the race that crosses the entire length of North and South America in just 11 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes.

In his Touareg V6 TDI Zietlow drove for 22,750 kilometres on the route between Tierra del Fuego and Alaska. Throughout the almost 12 days of trip he crossed 17 countries as well as most of the Earth’s climate and vegetation zones, from the extreme heat, heavy rain, sandstorms or snow.

Zietlow broke the previous record, which was set back in 2006, by four days. The Touareg he drove to achieve the new record is powered by an eco-friendly 3.0l V6 TDI Clean Diesel engine (165 kW/225 PS in the US version) which consumes 30 percent less fuel and emits up to 25 percent less CO2 than other vehicles with petrol engines in its class.

The world record drive has been extensively documented by Rainer Zietlow in video and photography, which can be found at the following website: www.tdi-panamericana.com.