With the prologue for the world’s hardest rally-raid race simply 5 days away, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) Dakar Team has assembled its three GR DKR Hilux T1+ race vehicles at the Sea Camp, north of the Saudi Arabian city of Yanbu. The subsequent order of enterprise is an intensive shakedown to affirm that all the pieces works as anticipated, earlier than attending to the ultimate checks and administration for Dakar 2023.
The 11km-long prologue for the race, which is used to decide the beginning orders for the primary stage, will get the motion underneath approach through the afternoon of 31 December 2022, earlier than the race itself kicks off on New Year’s Day 2023. Fourteen aggressive phases will comply with, with a Rest Day following Stage 8.
Can Toyota GAZOO Racing defend their title?
For TGR, the 2023 Dakar Rally will supply a possibility to defend the crown it received, when Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and French co-driver, Mathieu Baumel, introduced the mighty GR DKR Hilux T1+ residence in first place at the top of the 2022 version of the race. This was Nasser and Mathieu’s second victory for the workforce, and they are going to be aiming for a repeat efficiency early within the new 12 months.
Teammate Giniel de Villiers, from South Africa, has the most effective Dakar information in historical past, having competed in twenty Dakars to date. He received the race in 2009, and has been on the rostrum seven extra instances. He has solely completed outdoors the Top 10 as soon as in twenty races, and can be aiming for an additional strong consequence, once more with co-driver Dennis Murphy, additionally from South Africa, beside him.
For the South African pairing of Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings, their first two Dakar Rallies collectively proved studying experiences. In their first outing, in 2021, the pair crashed closely throughout Stage 5 of the rally, leading to a damaged collarbone for Lategan. In 2022 they bounced again, driving at a extra manageable tempo that noticed them take two stage victories, although their thirty first place end belied the tempo of the younger pairing.
Dakar 2023 guarantees to be one of many hardest but, consisting of 14 phases relatively than the dozen that has turn out to be the norm over the previous few editions of the race. Not solely that, however the route additionally ventures additional into the so-called Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia than ever earlier than. Add to that the Rest Day, which comes nicely after the mid-point of the race, in addition to the removing of mid-stage rest-and-refuel factors, and it’s clear that the upcoming rally can be robust.
With that stated, the GR DKR Hilux T1+ has seen fixed enchancment because the final Dakar, successful the inaugural W2RC within the fingers of Nasser and Mathieu, and taking Giniel to one more title within the South African Rally-Raid Championship, which serves as one of many check sequence for the workforce. With refinements to the automotive’s high quality, reliability and sturdiness, the workforce is assured that it has constructed an excellent higher automotive than the one which received the race in 2022.
The route for the upcoming Dakar Rally begins at the so-called Sea Camp, on the North-Western shoreline of Saudi Arabia. Both the Prologue and Stage 1 can be staged from right here, earlier than Stage 2 takes the rally in the direction of the gorgeous rocks and canyons round Alula. Next up is Stage 3 in the direction of Ha’il, the place the bivouac will stay in place for 3 days earlier than shifting to Al Duwadimi for 2 days. Stage 8 will see the rally attain the Saudi capital of Riyadh, for a much-needed Rest Day.
From right here, the route continues in an Eastward course in the direction of Haradh, earlier than shifting into the Empty Quarter for the ultimate few days of the occasion. This 12 months’s Marathon Stage – the place the crews race away from the bivouac to an unsupported camp within the desert, earlier than racing again the next day – will happen close to the top of the race, and will nicely change the end result of the occasion.
The remaining phases of the race will take the crews from Shaybah to Al-Hofuf, and on to town of Dammam, on the Arabian Gulf. While the closing three phases of the rally all function distances underneath 200km, the organisers have cautioned that these phases might nicely show the hardest of the occasion, and that rivals mustn’t take them calmly primarily based purely on their comparatively quick distances.
Dakar 2023 is scheduled to end on 15 January, 2023, within the metropolis of Dammam. This would be the Dakar’s first go to to town, and likewise the primary time that the race spans throughout your complete Saudi Arabian panorama from coast to coast.
“We’ve had a stunning year building up to this race, starting with a win at the Dakar in January this year. This was followed by the W2RC title, as well as the South African Rally-Raid Championship win, so we feel that we are extremely well prepared for the race. All I want now is for the flag to drop, so that we can go racing in order to see how our latest GR DKR Hilux T1+ stacks up against the competition.”
Glyn Hall, TGR Dakar Team Principal
“The Dakar Rally really is the big one! We’ve had a great year, winning the first ever W2RC title. But we’d love to add another Dakar victory to the list, and we are sure that the car is good enough to bring us that win.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah, TGR Dakar Team driver
Car numbers:
200 – Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel
205 – Giniel de Villiers / Dennis Murphy
217 – Henk Lategan / Brett Cummings
Follow the fortunes of the TGR W2RC and Dakar crews by becoming a member of our social media channels:
Facebook: @TGRW2RC
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Twitter: @TGR_W2RC
YouTube: @tgrw2rc
The workforce is supported by Jonsson Workwear and USN.
Posted by Toyota South Africa DAKAR on MotorPress
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