Dakar Rally 21: Reiger Suspension customers triumph

Reiger Suspension, a subsidiary of KW automotive since January 1, 2021, continues its success story at the Dakar Rally right at the start of the motorsports season. Over the entire distance of the more than 7500 kilometer rally through the deserts of Saudi Arabia, the Reiger customer teams dominated.

Of the 62 Reiger teams, a leading group set itself apart, taking the first five places overall after twelve stages.

Stéphane “Mr. Dakar” Peterhansel won for the 14th time Dakar Rally

For more than 40 years, the Dakar Rally has been the world’s most challenging desert rally. After Africa and South America, Saudi Arabia was the host country of the rally for the second time.

The start and finish in January was the port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea.

With a total distance of over 7,500 kilometers, twelve stages stretched through Saudi Arabia, a kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula.

Challenging terrain with steep dunes, rocky ground, wide jumps, sandy flats and wadis littered with obstacles caused numerous withdrawals. Agonizing for man and material.

At the Dakar Rally, Reiger Suspension components have proven a convincing with their high-performance off-road damper technology for years.

The motorsports customers of Reiger Suspension dominate this rally marathon (or Rally Raid) in various classification categories.

During the 2021 Dakar Rally, the new KW-automotive brand equipped 62 vehicles with its Reiger suspensions in the car, truck, quad, and side-by-side (SxS) categories.

Once again overall victory at the 2021 Dakar Rally: Reiger customers in 1st – 5th places

It was the second time that Saudi Arabia was the host country of the Dakar Rally. In the overall classification, Stéphane Peterhansel celebrated his 14th overall victory in the 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally in the X-Raid Mini Buggy (#302), equipped with a Reiger suspension.

His French compatriot, Edouard Boulanger, was his Co-pilot.

In the Toyota Gazoo Racing Truck (#301), Nasser Al-Attiaya from Qatar finished second with his teammate Mathieu Baumel from France.

Finishing third was last year’s winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz from Spain in the X-Raid Mini Buggy (#300).

In fourth place was Jakub Przygonski of Poland with his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk in the Toyota (#307), and in fifth was Nani Roma from Spain with his French co-driver Alexandre Winocq in the BRX (#311).

In the seventh position were Reiger customer Sheikh Khalid Al Qssimi from Abu Dhabi and Frenchman Xavier Panseri in the Mini 4×4 (#310).

The South African Giniel de Villiers and the Spanish Alex Haro Bravo finished eighth in their Toyota Gazoo Racing (#304) Hilux Pickup equipped with Reiger Suspension.

Reiger Motorsport teams also win in Trucks and Quads

On the truck podium, the KAMAZ Master Offroad trucks from Russia equipped with Reiger suspensions finished first.

These trucks, which weigh around 10 tons with their 13.0-liter capacity diesel engines require up to two liters of diesel per kilometer and are turbocharged.

First place went to Dmitry Sotinikov (#507), second place to Anton Shibalov (#501), and Airat Mardeev (#509) completed the winners’ podium. Fifth in the truck classification was Reiger customer, Ales Loprais.

Fastest on a Quad was Argentinian Manuel Andujar and US-American Pablo Copetti who finished third.

The successful fusion of Reiger Suspension and KW automotive

Anja Seesing and Gerard Seesing signing the contract with Klaus Wohlfarth and Jürgen Wohlfarth (from left).

Since January 1, 2021, Reiger Suspension from the Netherlands has been a brand of suspension manufacturer KW automotive. For several years, Reiger Suspension founder Gerard Seesing was looking for an heir to his company, which was founded in 1977.

His Netherlands-based company specializes in the production of dampers and suspension components for tough competitive use in rallying, rally, and motocross.

More than 330 people work at KW automotive’s headquarters in Fichtenberg, Germany.

In the family-owned company KW automotive, Gerard Seesing found the ideal partner to secure the future of his lifetime achievement.

Between Reiger Suspension and KW automotive, there are many similarities, which multiply each other and lead to numerous synergy effects.

Remaining in Holland: the Reiger Suspension facility will continue

Under the umbrella of KW automotive, Gerard Seesing and the 70 Reiger employees will continue to manufacture the well-known Reiger off-road motorsport components in the Netherlands.

New aftermarket off-road damper products for pick-up trucks and SUVs are already in development.

The merger and integration into KW automotive will create one of the world’s largest range of racing suspensions and aftermarket products.

Photos / Videos BMW Group (Antonin Vincent / DPPI, Julien Delfosse / DPPI), Toyota Gazoo Racing, KAMAZ Trucks, Red Bull Rally, Rallye Dakar, KW, Reiger Suspension, Word C. Schmidt

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