Christof Danner‘s Puch/Mercedes G320 has enjoyed success in Europe and Africa, but will head to Saudi Arabia for its toughest challenge yet when he enters the 2025 Dakar Classic.
Danner has been racing since 1997, originally in a Land Rover 109 Series before acquiring a Puch 230GE. He began in various races in Central and Eastern Europe before branching out to Africa for the first time in 2002, when he finished sixth in the Sahara–Rallye de Tunisie. Two years later, he won the Tuareg Rallye for the first of seven times along with with the Sahara–Rally. Back in Europe, he competed in the FIA Central European Zone (CEZ) Cross-Country Rally Championship along with regional series in Hungary, Germany, and Italy.
His starts at the Hungarian Baja, Italian Baja, and Riverside Baja also counted as experience in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies (predecessor to the World Rally-Raid Championship) and FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas (now World Baja Cup). Whenever he entered such events, his Puch was the only Austrian manufacturer in the premier T1 class (now Ultimate), specifically in the T1.1 subcategory for 4×4 petrol cars. To meet T1 homologation while staying competitive, the car underwent significant upgrades like switching out the Mercedes-Benz M112 E32 engine for an M113 E55 and the use of eight Öhlins shock absorbers.
The Puch G, also marketed as the Mercedes-Benz G-Class or G-Wagen, is one of the eligible marques that can compete at the Dakar Classic, a navigation-based counterpart to the concurrent Dakar Rally for cars built between 1979 and 2005. A Puch 280GE raced at the 2024 Dakar Classic in January with Maximilian and Laurence Loder, who finished forty-seventh overall and fourth in the H2.A subclass.
The 2025 Dakar Classic runs on 3–17 January.