After Jacky Ickx won the Paris-Dakar in 1983 in a Mercedes 280 GE, he convinced Porsche to test the new Carrera 4×4 in the Paris-Dakar Rally. Rothmans financed the Jacky Ickx Racing Team project. An atmosphere very much akin to a family prevailed at Porsche at this time. Porsche won the race in 1984 at the drop of a hat, with René Metge taking first place and Ickx coming in sixth.

1985 was an unsuccessful year for Porsche. The 600 horsepower twinturbocharged engines of the new 959 were not yet ready, and it proved necessary to compete with the weaker 911 engines. All three Porsche vehicles were eliminated, with Ickx and his co-driver Claude Brasseur wrecking their car completely on a rock concealed with sand.

The highly sophisticated Porsche 959 was completed in time to participate in the Dakar in 1986. Porsche won the race for the second time with a one-two victory in this year, with Jacky Ickx coming in second behind René Metge.

When it was introduced in 1986, the 959 was considered the world’s fastest street-legal production car and a technological forerunner due to its numerous innovations.