Argentina-Chile Dakar Motorcycle Rally unveil title sponsor

01 October 2010 | Posted in Sponsorship, Motorsport, South America | By Tom Love

The Argentina-Chile Dakar Motorcycle Rally has announced leading Argentine telecommunications business Personal as title sponsor.

Under terms of the deal, the rally will now be known as the "Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile 2011". Personal has provided the organisers of the rally with mobile telephones and service for since the rally’s move two years ago, which will now be offered by official provider of the 2011 Dakar, Nokia.

Personal, which has been involved in the event as an official supplier since 2009 and official partner in 2010, will now have its name stamped on the side of every vehicle competing on the rally.

The launch sees Personal more closely linked to the operations of the rally, especially with its attractions scheduled for the start in Buenos Aires.

The millions of spectators and television viewers tuning in for the event will also have the chance to try out the applications developed by Personal, which will be available on the mobile network.

Personal is Argentina's leading enterprise in terms of mobile communications and innovations, with more than 15 million domestic customers. Personal is the primary VAS operator and Latin America represents more than 38 per cent of all its sales. It is also the leader in the Argentinean Smart phone market with a more than 50 per cent share of the market.

The Dakar Series is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race. Since the inception in 1978, most events were from Paris to Dakar, but after security threats in Mauritania in 2008, the 2009 Dakar Rally was run in Argentina and Chile.