Solid start for Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa on Dakar stage 1

Coming off what it described as a “measured” Prologue to the start of this year’s Dakar Rally on Saturday, Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa finished the event’s first proper stage on Sunday (4 January) in a similar fashion, with all three of its GR Hilux IMT Evos in the top 15.

Top 10 on the stage

A round loop of 305 km to and from Yanbu, the #218 Hilux of Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena finished the stage sixth despite a puncture early on.

“We picked up a puncture quite early on in a sandy riverbed, so we had to be careful in the rocks after that. Luckily there was a tyre point where we could change tyres,” Botterill said.

“The car performed well, Oriol was fantastic on the notes, and we found a good rhythm. It’s still early days, but we’re happy with where we are.”

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After a 10^th place finish in the Prologue, reigning national Rally-Raid champions, Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet in the #213 Hilux completed the stage in 13^th overall, one second of the #240 Hilux of teammates, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro.

“We had really good pace at the start and no real issues with the car. The setup worked really well in those conditions. We went through rocky sections, wadis, mountain areas, flat graded roads and even some dunes,” Variawa said.

“The car was quite constant throughout the stage and we were quick. I found a few cars in front of me and managed to overtake, but we also made sure not to push too hard and open the stage tomorrow.”

Stage results

After finishing the Prologue third, overall stage victory went to the Mini crew of Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel, followed by the Dacia of former winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Larquin.

The privateer Ford Raptor entry of former World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka finished third.

Delayed due to a puncture on the Prologue, Henk Lategan and Brent Cummings eventually brought their Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC DKR Hilux home in 17^th position.

Overall standings

1. Guillaume de Mévius/Mathieu Baumel       Mini          03h 47 ’49”
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Larquin               Dacia         03h 08’ 29”
3. Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka                      Ford          03h 09’ 16”
4. Marek Goczal/Maciej Marton                    Toyota        03h 09’ 27”
5. Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist                   Ford          03h 09’ 37”
6. Guy Botterill/Oriol Mena                       Toyota       03h 09’ 52”
7. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz                               Ford          03h 09’ 53”
8. Nani Roma/Alex Haro                                  Ford          03h 10’ 26”
9. Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch                         Ford          03h 10’ 49”
10. Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger           Dacia         03h 10’ 50″

Stage 2

Looking ahead, stage 2 sees the rally move from Yanbu to Alula, with a special stage of 400 km described as fast, but with a rocky sections included.

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