Great Wall Motor enters a Haval SUV in 2011 Dakar Rally

Nothing like getting those competition miles under the belt for better street cred, and in the case of Chinese automaker Great Wall, the company has decided that nothing less than going the Dakar Rally route will suffice.

It has entered a Haval – also known as the Hover – in the race, which takes place across Argentina and Chile at the moment; the 2011 rally route loops from Buenos Aires to northwest Chile and back again. The company introduced its Haval SUV racing team at a ceremony during the Guangzhou auto show a couple of weeks back, and will also be assigning three support cars and two service cars to the rally team.