Motorcycle entrants in the 2006 Dakar Rally will be restricted to a top speed of 150 km/h to improve safety after two riders were killed in the 2005 event, the organisers have announced.

Motorcycle entrants in the 2006 Dakar Rally will be restricted to a top speed of 150 km/h to improve safety after two riders were killed in the 2005 event, the organisers have announced.

In this year's event, veteran rider and double winner Fabrizio Meoni and Spanish amateur Jose Manuel Perez were both killed while competing in the rally. Twenty-two competitors have been killed since the event débuted as the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1978.

On Wednesday, organisers said the speed limit (applied in the truck category this year) would help to improve safety and make the competition closer.

The event tests navigational skills and human and mechanical endurance and, according to its organisers, "is not a speed race".

Meanwhile, Giniel de Villiers - who along with motorcycle rider Alfie Cox has been a regular South African entrant in the endurance race - has been signed to the Volkswagen team for the 2006 Dakar, which starts on December 31, 2005 in Lisbon, Spain.

De Villiers and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner will compete in the third Race-Touareg alongside Jutta Kleinschmidt and Fabrizia Pons, and Bruno Saby and Michel Périn.

Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director said: "We are delighted to have secured the services of such a quick and experienced driver as Giniel de Villiers and an equally skilful co-driver, Tina Thörner, for our team."

"Giniel was always in the leading pack during his three Dakar competitions, and Tina has a great deal of experience and vast knowledge of navigating through the desert. The pair really is a strong addition and will help to bring our team an important step further."

The duo recently had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the Race-Touareg when they supported team-mate Saby in engine tests. De Villiers and Thörner will assist in the next set of tests and will complete "endurance runs" of up to and over 700 km a day to gain experience in the machine.

"I felt immediately at home in the Race-Touareg and also in the team," de Villiers commented. "I'm really hooked and can't wait to drive the Race-Touareg more often during the forthcoming months."

Original article from Car