Cooper Tires is proud to be supplying Discoverer STT tyres for the Toyota Land Cruiser KXR participating in the Dakar in 2010.

Originally know as the Paris-Dakar Rally, the Dakar has been attracting competitors for almost thirty years, with its mix of technical performance, physical endurance and off-road navigation skills.

The competition began back in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. He proceeded to come up with a route starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers and crossing Agadez before eventually finishing at Dakar. The founder coined a motto for his inspiration: "A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind." Courtesy of his great conviction and that modicum of madness peculiar to all great ideas, the plan quickly became a reality. Since then, the Paris-Dakar has never failed to challenge, surprise and excite those who have entered.

The Paris-Dakar rapidly won over the public, fascinated by these ordinary adventurers defying the desert with limited resources. Yamahas and Hondas "cobbled together at the back of the garage" rubbed shoulders with Thierry de Montcorgé's Rolls-Royce and the Citroen CX of the F1 driver Jacky Ickx.

The event has attracted famous names from the world of motorsport, both on two and four wheels. Former WRC world champion, Ari Vatanen; Stéphane Peterhansel, world enduro champion, became the uncontested expert of the event; Cyril Despres; world ski champion, Luc Alphand; American NASCAR stand out, Robby Gordon, and WRC’s Carlos Sainz to name but a few.

Starting in Buenos Aires on 1 January 2010, the route sees the competitors tackle 9000 kilometres through Argentina and Chile, including the Atacama desert and parts of the Andes, before returning to Buenos Aires on 17 January. Five special stages on the dunes and sand tracks of the Atacama Desert will be some of the toughest in the Dakar’s history and will decide the final classification. Huge dunes – dozens of metres high, temperatures of over 45º and the high altitude will demand the maximum from both vehicles and competitors.

The Dakar will provide the perfect challenge for the Cooper Discoverer STT tyres, demonstrating that this standard tyre, accessible to any 4x4 enthusiast, is capable of taking part in the world’s most demanding rally.

The Toyota Cooper Tires Team, led by Dakar veteran, Spaniard Xavier Foj, will once again be demonstrating that a standard vehicle and tyres are capable of doing battle with prototypes and tyres specifically made for competing in a rally as tough as the Dakar.

It will be the second year that Foj has used Cooper's STT, renowned for its outstanding off-road traction and durability. Last year, he finished second in the T2 class for production vehicles, with no punctures or tyre problems.

Foj is a former winner of the production class and believes that his Cooper Discoverer STT tyres can carry him to a return to class victory - in 18 years of Dakar racing, Foj has won once before, in 1999.

The Toyota Cooper Tires team will fit 255/75R15 and 245/75R15 STTs to the KXR for the event, in which competitors tackle soft sandy dunes as well as tough, rocky terrain.

The event, held between January 1-17, 2010, will be the second running of the Dakar in South America and the route, which takes competitors across the Atacama Desert, is believed to be one of the toughest in the event's history.