On June 30, Rainer Zietlow embarked on his 15,145 km world-record drive across Eurasia. In 6 days, 9 hours and 38 minutes, Rainer drove from Magadan, the eastern-most city on the Asian continent reachable by car, to Lisbon, the western-most city on the European continent. With this feat, the team beats the existing world record of 8 days and 12 hours.
As he did with his previous challenges, Zietlow donated the funds he raised to the charity SOS Village in Belarus, which he visited after the world-record drive. With a long heritage of firsts, Rainer again chose Goodyear as the ideal partner for this world record attempt.
History of firsts
Goodyear says it also prides itself on a history of firsts: the first to have their tires on the moon, the first to launch off-road tires and the first to win 350 F1 Grand Prix races on their tires. Rainer Zietlow himself already had four long distance world records to his name; this challenge was his fifth. The attempt took Zietlow on a journey through 11 time zones, starting at the most extreme point in Eurasia reachable by car. The biggest challenge he faced was crossing Moscow without traffic jams and the infamous Kolyma Highway in Russia, a 3,000 km gravel road, which was very demanding for crew, car and tires. In order to cross the supercontinent in a record-breaking time, Rainer Zietlow chose to partner with Goodyear for the third time, relying on the company’s Wrangler tire family. Previous collaborations were Cape to Cape and Cape to Cape 2.0.
The Goodyear Wrangler tire family
From Magadan to Yakutsk, Rainer used the Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure with Kevlar, offering excellent off-road capabilities for highly demanding and extreme conditions. For driving on more loose gravel and highways from Yakutsk to Lisbon, Rainer used the Wrangler HP All Weather tire, designed for SUV and 4X4 vehicles, which combines solid year-round performance on tarmac and hardened roads with strong off-road abilities. The tire offers an aggressive grip in wet weather and strong aquaplaning resistance, granting the team the necessary peace of mind as they made their way to Lisbon.
Alexis Bortoluzzi, Goodyear marketing director of EMEA, said, “We wish to congratulate Rainer and his team on their new world record, they did it again! We are proud to have been a part of their success in this amazing voyage and have demonstrated that our tires from the Goodyear Wrangler family were the best choice for Rainer’s endeavor.”
“We are extremely happy to have conquered Eurasia with this amazing time of 6 days, 9 hours and 38 minutes,” said Zietlow. “I would like to express again my gratitude to all of my sponsors and partners, including Goodyear for providing reliable tires even for the harshest of road conditions. I would definitely choose Goodyear again for my next challenges.”
Across Eurasia from Magadan to Lisbon
During the under-seven-day feat, Zietlow and his team, cameraman Marius Biela and Russian journalist Peter Bakanov, passed through 7 countries: Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
The car carried a total of seven tires: four fitted tires and three spare ones. Other partners of the challenge included Volkswagen Group Rus, LukOil lubricants, Ferodo, Champion, Immarsat, Exide, Borbet and Kuehne+Naegel.
For additional pictures, videos and facts and figures about the drive, go to touareg-eurasia.com, news.goodyear.eu or follow Goodyear on Twitter at @Goodyearpress.
