Ballito’s Guy Botterill ready for 2024 Dakar Rally
Botterill has won multiple South African Rally Championships and finished second in this year's South African Rally-Raid Championship with navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle.
Ballito’s Guy Botterill has earned his place on the starting line of the world’s toughest rally race.
Botterill will fulfill his dream of competing in the prestigious Dakar Rally in early January after being selected as one of five Toyota Gazoo Racing Team drivers.
He finds himself in an elite car too, as four of the top five finishers at this year’s race were driving the 2023 version of the T1+ DKR Hilux that Botterill will pilot through the desert.
The 2024 edition of the Dakar Rally kicks off on January 6 and takes driving teams through almost 8 000km of unrelenting Saudi Arabian desert over 12 days.
“This is my Formula 1. It is the ultimate race for a rally driver and undoubtedly the toughest in the world,” said Botterill.
“Toyota are trusting in the future of the Dakar and I feel very fortunate that the timing worked out for me to get a seat as a rookie.”
Botterill has won multiple South African Rally Championships and finished second in this year’s South African Rally-Raid Championship with navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle.
Photo: Supplied.
Rally-Raid is closer to the format of the Dakar in that teams navigate their way between two points rather than following a set course.
Crucially, it also allowed Botterill to get used to the class of car which he will race in Saudi Arabia.
“We have one of the strongest Rally-Raid competitions in the world here in South Africa. We narrowly lost out to first place but it was perfect training for the Dakar,” he said.
The big difference at the Dakar is that it is raced almost completely on sand dunes as opposed to hard packed ground.
“Toyota flew me to Dubai for 10 days of intense training and I’ve just got back from another camp in Namibia. I have basically driven every day for the last month and feel good on the sand.”
“We’ve also been getting all the details of the car right. Obviously it was so successful this year that it’s more refinement than reinvention.”
Botterill will be joined by five-time Dakar veteran Brett Cummings as navigator and hopes to draw on his experience over the gruelling two-week race.
The 2024 Dakar includes a 48-hour marathon stage, while teams average around 650kms of driving per day!
Keep an eye out for Botterill as he shoots for racing immortality in January.
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