GM Rally Racing
Rally car racing features a driver and co-driver racing street legal cars on closed sections of roads called stages. The goal in rally is to accumulate the lowest elapsed driving time on a prescribed course.
Peterson Motorsports was scheduled to compete in its second Dakar Rally with the Peterson/BF Goodrich Chevrolet pickup. However, that event, the first major marathon event of the 2008 season, was cancelled due to terrorist threats.
Team Dakar USA, Robby Gordon’s HUMMER H3 Team was also entered in this event.
While General Motors' North American brands may not have a long history in rally racing, one of its European partners does. Saabs have been racing and winning rally events in Europe (and worldwide) since 1950 when a 92 driven by Rolf Mellde triumphed in one of the toughest road races in Sweden, the Rikspokalen. Saabs took the team prize in that event as well and Greta Molander won the ladies' award. It was the beginning of a very successful run in rally events for Saab, a run that continues even today. Saab has more than 1,000 rally victories, more than 100 of them in mahor international events, since Mellde's run at Rikspokalen.