Land Rover LR3 competition ready for the 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge: Land Rover North America announces the United States intent to field a team for the 2008/2009 competition.

Recruitment kicks off in the U.S. for new Land Rover G4 Challenge

Land Rover North America today announced its participation in the 2008/2009 Land Rover G4 Challenge.

Recognized as one of the world's most exciting off-road driving and adventure events, the organizers of the Land Rover G4 Challenge have today opened recruitment for U.S. participants to represent their country. The selection process will start this year culminating in the G4 Challenge Finals in 2009.

For the first time ever, the Land Rover G4 Challenge will also be run with the aim of raising funds for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Male and female entrants can sign up on the Challenge website, www.landroverG4Challenge.com, and through a series of national and international selections, one man and one woman will be chosen to represent their national team against 17 other countries in the three-week long Challenge Finals in Asia in 2009.

“Land Rover has a history of exploration and adventure, so its fitting for us to stage a challenge where we set a priority on driving talent while retaining an exciting mix of adventure,” said Chris Marchand, executive vice president, marketing and sales, Land Rover North America. The Challenge takes competitors to remote places where adventure sports combined with strategic thinking will test both body and mind while pushing our Land Rover vehicles to the extreme over a variety of terrain.

National Selections for the U.S. will take place in May 2008 in Nevada to decide the two men and two women to go through to International Selections in early 2009 with the Challenge Finals set to run in mid-2009.

The successful competitors will travel to spectacular remote locations in Asia where off-road driving will be mixed with sporting challenges including kayaking, mountain biking and climbing to test the teams strength, stamina and strategic awareness.

The Challenge will be environmentally sensitive and fully carbon offset through Climate Care.  The winners will be given a Land Rover to donate to their country’s National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society.

Editor Note:
The 18 participating nations:

Land Rover G4 Challenge
Land Rover has a lasting heritage of adventure, with one of the best known expeditions run in 1970 when two Range Rovers became the first vehicles to complete a land crossing of the Darien Gap swamplands that divide North America from South America. The Land Rover G4 Challenge was inaugurated in 2003, when Belgian fighter pilot Rudi Thoelen emerged victorious from a cliff hanging finale in Moab, Utah. The next Challenge, in 2006, went deep into rugged, remote locations in Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia, coming to an end at an altitude of over 13,000 feet with South African Martin Dreyer emerging victorious.