After over two decades, Dirk von Zitzewitz is hanging up his roadbook. In an interview with Jens Kürbis of the Lübecker Nachrichten, von Zitzewitz discussed the toll that injuries he suffered in accidents in recent years have taken on his body, eventually prompting him to end a decorated career as a rally raid co-driver.
Von Zitzewitz won the 2009 Dakar Rally in his third year as the navigator for Giniel de Villiers. He made his Dakar navigating début in 2002 when he and Mark Miller finished nineteenth overall, transitioning to the passenger’s seat after racing the Dakar on a bike since 1997. In 2005, he moved to Volkswagen and called the shots for Robby Gordon, who became the first American to win stages in a car, before reuniting with Miller for 2006 then joining de Villiers the following year.
He and de Villiers continued their partnership when they joined the Toyota camp in 2012. Von Zitzewitz later worked with Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, and the two won the 2022 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas together.
Von Zitzewitz’s final Dakar in 2023 saw him and Al-Rajhi win Stage #7 but were relegated to thirty-seventh in T1 due to mechanical issues. Timo Gottschalk took over as Al-Rajhi’s navigator for the rest of the World Rally-Raid Championship, where Al-Rajhi went on to finish second in points.
At the 2019 Hungarian Baja, von Zitzewitz suffered a massive accident in which his Can-Am Maverick flipped and rolled into a bush, breaking several of his ribs and collarbone. He revealed to Kürbis that part of his spine became stiffer due to the injury, and his decision to walk away from navigating is to preserve his health.
Al-Rajhi will continue to have Gottschalk as his co-driver for 2024, though von Zitzewitz mentioned Al-Rajhi and other teams had approached him about a reunion that he turned down. Nonetheless, he stressed that his racing career as a whole is not over and he is open to returning to Dakar if the stars align.
“I need distance because occasionally, I feel nostalgic,” said von Zitzewitz. “I’m not quite done with Dakar yet. “It’s still difficult for me to say that my Dakar chapter is over. There is a drive within me. But it has to be (over) to protect myself.”
Even if he is not reading from a roadbook, von Zitzewitz will still be involved with racing motorcycles. A fifteen-time German Enduro Champion, he organises enduro bike tours through Europe and plans to embark on one through Kenya in January 2025.
“I feel more comfortable on a moped than on foot,” von Zitzewitz remarked. “I’m more of a motorcyclist at heart.”
