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First international Spirit of Amarok kicks off

Johannesburg - The inaugural International Spirit of Amarok Trophy competition contested by 20 teams from Australia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa will take place on September 14-18 in Botswana.

Each country will be represented by five teams, each team comprising of two people that will be showcasing their off-road driving skills in the toughest 4x4 challenge in Africa.

The teams from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were selected from the finals of the Spirit of Africa Trophy competition hosted by the motorsport legend and Amarok brand ambassador, Sarel van der Merwe.

Watch: 2015 Spirit of Africa finals

Meanwhile the Australian teams were selected from a competition known as ‘Mud, Sweat and Gears’ in Victoria, Australia. The Australian competition was hosted by Australia’s "Mr 4x4" Pat Callinan.

Van der Merwe said: "The concept of the international competition is based on the principles of the Spirit of Africa Trophy which are aimed at testing the 4x4 technical skills and abilities of the drivers in some of Africa’s toughest terrains like steep dongas, rocky ascents and plunging valleys."

5 days, 30 challenges

The teams will use Amarok Double Cabs to contest 30 challenges over five days. The challenges will be split into two categories: technical and speed with speed challenges simulated to motorsport rally stages with long narrow farm style paths. The technical challenge will involve extreme off-road conditions with mud and deep sand.

Read: 2015 Spirit of Africa: Winners announced

Van der Merve said: "A new addition to the competition includes a team strategy session after each challenge. Once a challenge has been completed, each country will get a chance to decide which team’s score or time will be submitted to their overall scoring. Each team must have an opportunity to submit its times to its country’s overall scoring.

The leaderboard will be kept secret until the final results are announced at the end of the competition.

R40 000 prize money

Volkswagen said: the winning team will receive the Wolf Trophy and R40 000 prize money. Each member of the winning country will receive R10 000. The best placed team from each country (SA, Australia, Botswana and Namibia) will also receive R10 000.

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