Porsche has brought a historic 959 Paris-Dakar back to running condition

Porsche has released the first of what will be a series of six videos, all dedicated to the restoration of a 959 Paris-Dakar.

The car in question was driven by Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur in the 1986 Paris Dakar Rally, which saw a total of three 959's taking part, all standing out in a competition dominated by trucks and all-terrain vehicles.

Recommissioned over the course of a few months by the Porsche Heritage and Museum team together with Porsche Classic, the car, which finished second in the competition, is now ready to be driven again.

Porsche states that the car was still in a good condition, its various body and mechanical parts had never been separated since the rally, and thus still carried the sand and dirt it picked up from the African desert.

The firm also opted only to lightly overhaul the 959, replacing as little as possible while keeping the maximum number of original parts. Areas of corrosion where the Kevlar body ground against the metal frame of the car have been conserved, for example, to preserve the history of the car.

Once all the work was completed, the Porsche Heritage and Museum team then invited Jacky Ickx to the car's reveal (snippets of which you can catch in the first episode of the series embedded above).

The former pilot of the second-placed 959 Paris-Dakar had the honour of being the first person to drive the recommissioned car, in a snow-covered stone quarry.

Catch the full series of the restoration of this 959 Paris-Dakar on the Porsche YouTube channel here, and if you still haven't had your fill of off-road Porsche's there's also a video of us taking the Porsche 911 Dakar out for a whirl which you can watch here!