Second Consecutive Dakar Victory for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA
Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver, Mathieu Baumel, successfully defended the Dakar title they won for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) in 2022, when they brought their GR DKR Hilux T1+ over the finish line of the final stage of Dakar 2023 on 15 January. The pair lost 5min 41sec to the stage winners, but that hardly mattered, as they sealed the overall victory with a winning margin of 1hr 20min 49sec.
• 1st overall for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel
• 4th overall for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy
• 5th overall for Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings
• 4 Toyota Hilux T1+ in Top 5
The final stage of Dakar 2023 was a 136 km-long test that started from the bivouac at Al-Hofuf. Competitors had to complete a short liaison of 167km before taking on Stage 14, which was then followed by a final liaison of 100km to the finish podium in the coastal city of Dammam.
For Nasser, this was his fifth win in the Dakar Rally, while Mathieu’s tally is now four victories. The pair has won three times for Toyota, with the latest victories coming in a back-to-back display of quality, durability, and reliability for the Japanese manufacturer. The pair took over the lead of the event on Stage 2, and never relinquished that position.
Giniel de Villiers, who completed his twentieth consecutive Dakar Rally when he crossed the finish line near Dammam, ended the rally in 4th place in the overall standings. This result brings his total number of Top 5 finishes to 15, including one victory in 2009. The South African has only finished outside the Top 10 on one occasion, and his performance in the 2023 Dakar Rally underscores the toughness and tenacity of one of the Dakar Rally’s true veteran racers. Together with co-driver Dennis Murphy, Giniel finished this year’s 45th edition of the rally in fine style, posting a Top 10 time on the closing stage.
Dakar 2023 will long be remembered by Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings as a race that could have turned out very differently for them. They moved as high as 2nd place in the overall standings before two setbacks pushed them down the order. The pair showed great pace throughout the rally and will be hoping for a truer reflection of their speed in future editions. Even so, they finished in 5th place overall, less than 5min behind their teammates in fourth.
Toyota dominated the Dakar 2023 results, with the works TGR crews finishing 1st, 4th and 5th. A privately entered Toyota Hilux T1+ in the hands of the young Brazilian, Lucas Moraes, added to the Japanese manufacturer’s tally, by finishing in third place overall. This was Lucas’ first attempt at the Dakar Rally, though he had an experienced co-driver in the form of Timo Gottschalk beside him in the car.
QUOTES:
Glyn Hall, TGR Dakar Team Principal: “What a day for our entire team! Winning Dakar is something memorable, but winning the world’s toughest race twice in a row is simply extraordinary. My sincere thanks to every member of our team, every one of our sponsors and, of course, our drivers and co-drivers, who delivered a stunning result. I’m really proud of our GR DKR Hilux T1+, which has proven yet again that it is reliable and durable enough to not only complete the world’s roughest automotive race but to do so two years in a row.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah: “This in amazing feeling! I have to thank so many people, starting with every member of our team. It was a tough two weeks, but to be able to come back and defend our title is fantastic! I’m really proud of our Toyota Hilux T1+, and to win the race three times with Toyota is truly something special.”
Giniel de Villiers: “The Dakar is always full of challenges, and we certainly had our share of challenges this year. Of course, it could’ve been better for us, but then many competitors can probably say the same. It would have been nice to be on the podium, but overall, as a manufacturer, Toyota has every reason to be proud. I think this result has just proven the reliability of the Hilux once again, and we again managed to showcase this amazing car in Saudi Arabia this year.”
Henk Lategan: “Dakar 2023 has been a rollercoaster for us. It has been a tough two weeks for us, with some extremely good days; but also some disappointing ones. It does feel good to be in the Top 5 after such a tough Dakar, and I think they’ve thrown everything at us this year. With that in mind, it feels fantastic to be at the end of the race, and while we’ll always wonder what might have been, we are very happy to bring the car home in a good position.”
Basson/Pienaar Claim Rookie Victory and Top 10 Finish on Dakar Debut
• SA’s Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar complete tough Dakar debut
• National Class T1 champions crowned Lightweight Prototype rookie winners in Dammam
• The G Rally Team crew ended the two-week-long race in 7th position on the overall rankings
The 2023 Dakar Rally was described by many experienced competitors as one of, if not the toughest in the recent history of the notorious rally. So perhaps not the ideal time to take on the world’s toughest race, but that’s exactly what South Africa’s Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar did when they joined the starting line-up in the G Rally Team OT3 in the lightweight prototype category of the Dakar Rally when the event kicked off on New Year’s Day on the shores of the Red Sea in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The 2023 route would see crews traverse the vast empty spaces of the Saudi Kingdom, including a late visit to the Empty Quarter towards the end of the event. After 14 stages that covered nearly 8000 kilometers, of which 5000 were against the stopwatch, the #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Crew did themselves, their team, and their country proud by arriving at the finish line in Dammam with their names occupying the 7th position on the overall classification in class T3.
“We came here with one clear objective, and that was to finish the race,” said an emotional Basson at the finish line. “But before we started, Leander and I decided that we weren’t here to mess around. We set ourselves a target of a top 10 finish.”
The pairing had no choice but to quickly get to grips with their G Rally Team OT3 car, a car they’d never driven before the start of the event. They took to it like a duck to water and it didn’t take them long to bust into the top 10. “Unfortunately, like many of the other teams, we had a few unfortunate setbacks that robbed us of valuable time and a few positions on the overall leaderboard. But that’s racing and it is the same for everyone.”
Basson and Pienaar got into their stride midway through the event and although they haven’t really been in big dunes before, they regularly found themselves setting times in the upper echelon of the class amongst some fierce competition. This included their teammates Guillaume de Mevius and Francois Cazalet who were well on course to claim victory for the team until a small electrical problem dropped them down to third place late in the rally.
With only a few stages to go, Basson and Pienaar’s names settled into a comfortable 7th in the overall standings. They were just a little too far behind to fight for 6th while also having a relatively comfortable margin over the chasing pack. “At this point, we knew that we did all that we could do. For the last few stages it became a matter of survival as our focus was to simply defend our overall position,” added Basson. Besides fighting against some of the biggest names in the sport of Rally Raid racing, the pairing also had to battle the elements and a few other challenges that the Arabian desert could throw them. “We didn’t expect rain and cold weather in the desert, but that’s exactly what we got. We got soaking wet on several occasions and it was freezing for many days. Doing 500 kilometers in the freezing cold without a windscreen in the car was not the most enjoyable part, but it all forms part of the challenge,” said an elated Pienaar at the finish line.
In the end, they were rewarded with a fine 7th position. All the competitors in front of them have done the Dakar before, so the crew also walked away with the coveted rookie prize on the 2023 Dakar. “It is still sinking in. It will probably take me another two weeks to realize what we experienced over the past two weeks,” said Pienaar. “I’m very satisfied that we had the pace to run with the front runners on our first Dakar,” added Basson. “As a racer at heart, one always wants to win, but realistically, our rookie victory and 7th overall is a great result for us. I’m already thinking of how we can put things in place to return to the world’s toughest race once more in 2024.”
The #TeamHilux Rally-Raid and G Rally Team would like to thank it’s supporters and associated sponsors who made their 2023 Dakar Rally participation possible.
Basson and Pienaar, together with the other 2 #TeamHilux Rally-Raid crews, including their teammates from Malalane Toyota, Johan, and Werner Horn, as well as the brothers from Witbank, Fouche and Bertus Blignaut, will compete in the South African Rally-Raid Championship across South Africa. The flag will drop for the first race in March, where the team will be racing in their Toyota Hilux bakkies. “We would like to invite everyone to join us at the SARRC rallies, the atmosphere is amazing and the racing even better,” Basson concluded.
Follow the exhilarating action of the #TeamHIlux Rally-Raid team on Facebook and Instagram
