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Prodrive working on 2015 Dakar entry

Prodrive has confirmed it is working on a Dakar entry for 2015

The British-based firm has already completed initial modelling work for a car, but it's not yet known whether the project will become a manufacturer car entry or a Prodrive buggy.

Prodrive staff members were present in South America in January, reporting back on what was needed for the firm's first assault on a cross-country rally car.

Business development director Richard Taylor said: "We have already done a lot of research into this project and it is very interesting to us.

"We're still talking to manufacturers about the work we're doing, which is why we haven't decided on the direction the [car or buggy] will take.

"This is not something we can rush, though - which is why we're looking at 2015 and not next year. For next year's event, we'd have to have the cars ready for shipping in late November and that's not sensible."

Taylor said next season would be spent gearing-up for January 2015.

He added: "Testing for an event like this is as important as doing [warm-up] rallies in preparation for Dakar - and it's vital that the tests are done in the right environment.

"We sent people out there for the event because we wanted to see how the rally worked and how the teams worked on it."

Taylor added that, while Prodrive hadn't built a Dakar car before, it had numerous staff who had worked on the event.

"And don't forget," he said, "Prodrive started out working in rallying in the deserts of the Middle East 27 years ago."

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