Wounded Taverham soldier to star in ITV documentary on Dakar Rally

Andrew Taylor from Taverham serving in Afghanistan. (Image: Submitted)

Andrew Taylor from Taverham and Dave Reeve from Great Ryburgh were part of the Race2Recovery project which became the first team to complete the Dakar Rally with injured servicemen.

One of the team's vehicles competing in the rally. Photo: Gaucho Productions (Image: Gaucho Productions)

The two-part documentary called Dakar Rally: Frontline to Finish Line, follows the team through the deserts and mountains of South America as they try to beat the odds to complete the race.

As reported in the Evening News, three of their four cars had to drop out as the team raced 6,000 miles over 15 days through Peru, Argentina and Chile in January.

Mr Taylor, pictured below during his time in Afghanistan, who rose to the rank of warrant officer before being blown up by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in 2008, was the team's manager.

'There were so many times where I didn't realise I was being filmed,' he said. 'On the Dakar you concentrate so much on the task in hand. I'm sure the documentary will show the emotions, the highs, the lows and what it took to get these injured guys through.'

The former soldier and Mr Reeve travelled in a support vehicle and helped fix the vehicles through the night.

Despite the difficulties Mr Taylor said he was now consid-ering doing the rally again.

He said: 'After the intensity of the last 20 months, for it to be done and dusted I think everyone in the team came back to the 'Dakar dip'.

'The experience was truly unbelievable.'

The team was backed by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry and is raising money for Tedworth House – a recovery centre for injured soldiers in Wiltshire.

The documentary will be shown at 9pm tonight and 9pm on Friday.