Team-mates at SEAT Sport in the FIA WTCC, together Yvan Muller and Tiago Monteiro are facing another big challenge: the Lisbon-Dakar Rally.

Last year Frenchman Muller took part for the first time in the infamous raid, making it to the end in 22nd position at the wheel of a Nissan Pickup he shared with three-time winner and fellow countryman René Metge.

For the 2008 event, which will start from Lisbon on January 5 to arrive in Dakar on January 20 after 6,000 km of special stages, Muller has joined Philippe Gache's team and will drive a single-seater SMG buggy powered by a 250bhp 6-cylinder boxer Porsche engine, built by Gache and conceived together with Jean-Louis Schlesser. The team line-up five buggies including Muller's and Monteiro's.

This is another step in my apprenticeship in rally-raids. I believe that learning to manage at the same time both navigation and driving is the best school in this category. Obviously this is not the most comfortable choice, but is a gamble. I really wish to invest on this programme and I'm ready to suffer to be successful, said Muller.

Eurosport