Dakar week 2 starts tough for Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa experienced its most difficult day to date on stage 7 of this year Dakar Rally as a result of yet more punctures as well as navigation difficulties.

Tough going

Having come off of the traditional Saturday rest day in 17^th place overall, the 462 km route from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh to Wadi Ad Dawasir ended with a 14^th place for Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena in the #218 GR Hilux IMT Evo.

This still leaves them 17^th overall, one hour 4 min 52 seconds behind the leaders.

“We picked up a puncture very early on, so we had to take it easy over the rocks and manage the tyres,” Botterill said.

“It wasn’t the best day speed-wise, but we got to the end. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a better day.”

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In contrast, national Rally-Raid champions, Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet, had a stage to forget after problems ranging from a puncture and tricky navigation, to a damaged damper near the end.

Having gone into the stage on the cusp of the top 10 in 11^th place, the #213 Hilux finished 28^th, dropping them to 15^th overall.

“We had a puncture, got caught in navigation issues, and then had a damper problem near the end. It cost us a lot of time, but at least we’re still here and the car is in one piece. From now on, we just have to push,” Variawa said.

Silver lining

Better news for the team came in the shape of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, who finished second to now move to 11^th overall.

“No problems, no punctures, no navigation issues. It was super-fast and easy to make mistakes, but we did a good job. I’m really happy with how we started the second week,” Ferreira said.

Blue Oval on top again

In the overall standings, the stage produced a topsy-turvy result as late damper troubles saw South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings drop two places to fourth after only managing the 13^th best time.

Sandwiching Ferreira and Palmeiro were the works Ford Raptors of Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist and Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch, with fourth and fifth places occupied by the Toyota Hilux of Seth Quintero and Andrew Short and the Dacia Sandriders of Lucas Moreas/Dennis Zenz.

Overall leaders remain the Dacia of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Larquin, but now ahead of Ekstrom and Bergkvist, with the third works Ford Raptor of Nani Roma and Alex Haro keeping station in third.

Overall standings

1. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Larquin
   – Dacia Sandriders
   – 28h 10′ 15”
   
2. Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist
   – Ford Raptor
   – 28h 15′ 02″
   
3. Nani Roma/Alex Haro
   – Ford Raptor
   – 28h 17′ 30”
   
4. Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings
   – Toyota Hilux
   – 28h 17′ 36”
   
5. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz
   – Ford Raptor
   – 28h 20′ 41”
   
6. Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger
   – Dacia Sandriders
   – 28h 25′ 54”
   
7. Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch
   – Ford Raptor
   – 28h 29′ 35”
   
8. Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Minaudier
   – Century CR7
   – 28h 32′ 20”
   
9. Lucas Moreas/Dennis Zenz
   – Dacia Sandriders
   – 28h 34′ 54”
   
10. Eryk Gozal/Szymon Gospodarczyk
    – Toyota Hilux
    – 28h 35′ 40”

Day’s stage

Stage 8, a loop around Wadi Ad Dawasir, stretches 483 km and reportedly involves extensive dune driving, placing a further premium on navigation and tyre management.

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