Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa hit with more flats on Dakar stage 4

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa experienced what it described as its most difficult day of this year’s Dakar so far, with the first of the marathon stages to and from Alula.

More punctures

Taking place over 452 km, without any overnight servicing as per the marathon regulations, the fourth stage saw numerous crews plagued punctures, though navigational issues were the biggest problem for Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena.

Having started the stage 17^th overall, the #213 GR Hilux IMT Evo crew finished the stage down in 37^th place including being slapped with a 15 minute penalty for missing a waypoint, which drops them to 22^nd in the overall classification

Starting 15^th, the #240 Hilux of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro endured similar frustration after two punctures resulted in them finishing 17^th and dropping two places in the overall standings.

“Two early punctures meant we had to drive super carefully and super slowly. It’s tough racing and I’m gutted for the team, but we’re still alive for the second part of the Marathon and we’ll reassess our strategy after tomorrow,” Ferreira said.

ALSO READ: Dakar stage 3 throws flats at Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa

Fairing the best of the three-car team, reigning national Rally-Raid champions Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet completed the stage in ninth place overall despite picking-up a puncture mid-stage.

Having started the day ninth, the #213 Hilux now place sixth heading into the fifth stage.

“We were going quite well at the start and passed a lot of guys that started ahead of us. Then we hit the rocky section and got two punctures close together,” Variawa said.

“After that we still had another 260 kilometres to go, most of it on rocks, so we had to be quite cautious. It could have been worse, but we’ll see how the overall looks”.

Lategan on top

After the domination of Ford on stage 3, stage four saw South Africa’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings not only win the stage, but jump to the lead of the event by three minutes 55 seconds from the Dacia Sandrider of Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Larquin, who also finished the stage second.

Privateer Polish teammates Marek Goczal/Maciej Marton and Eryk Gozal/Szymon Gospodarczyk – both in Hiluxs- finished third and fourth on stage, with fifth place going to Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger in the second Dacia Sandrider.

Overall standings

1. Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings       Toyota 16h 29′ 15”
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Larquin     Dacia      16h 33′ 10”
3. Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist    Ford         16h 42′ 15”
4. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz                        Ford         16h 45′ 08”
5. Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Minaudier        Century 16h 46′ 08”
6. Saood Variawa/Francois Cazalet           Toyota      16h 47′ 34”
7. Nani Roma/Alex Haro Ford 16h 47′ 51”
8. Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger Dacia       16h 49′ 12”
9. Eryk Gozal/Szymon Gospodarczyk        Toyota       16h 50′ 37″
10. Cristina Gutierrez/Pablo Moreno           Dacia 16h 54′ 33”

Marathon continues..

The marathon stage continues with the fifth stretching 414 km before finishing at the bivouac in Hail.

ALSO READ: Dakar shows teeth to Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa on stage 2