Desert test for Toyota team

It will be the third time the Toyota Imperial Dakar Team tackles the world’s longest and toughest motor race following a third place in 2012 and a second in 2013 for Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz.

De Villiers and von Zitzewitz, who won in 2009, and Imperial Toyota Hilux team-mates Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie travelled to the vast, open expanse of desert about 32 kilometres south east of Walvis Bay to take advantage of the combination of sand dune fields and gravel tracks closely resembling the geography they will experience in the Dakar Rally.

“Since our success in the 2013 Dakar Rally we have continued our development of the Toyota Hilux in the Donaldson South African Cross Country Championship, which is one of the toughest national championships in the world,” said team principal Glyn Hall.

“The local championship satisfies 55% to 65% of what we need to know to tackle the next Dakar with confidence, with the obvious exception of driving on sand dunes. The team has been concentrating on setting up the chassis and suspension of the Hilux, and also worked on the aerodynamics, brakes, gearing, drive train and new air conditioning.

Dakar rookie Poulter took full advantage of the opportunity to drive the Hilux in the sand dunes for the first time.

“The weather conditions were perfect for the entire week enabling the team to complete over 2 000 kilometres of valuable testing in the desert,” said Hall.

“We got through our very full programme of tasks and nearly all were completed with good results, especially the new suspension which was only finished the day before we left.

“Leeroy has fitted into the Dakar team very easily and has gained valuable knowledge in both the big sand dunes and rough gravel conditions ahead of the Dakar.

“We now need to complete the two Dakar bakkies under construction and apply what we learnt in Namibia.”