Ballito rally driver Guy Botterill is back in Saudi Arabia, taking on the brutal Dakar Rally for the third consecutive year.

Botterill and Spanish navigator Oriol Mena set off from the Red Sea town of Yanbu on January 3, and will traverse almost 8 000km of shifting desert terrain over 14 days of racing.

He remains with the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa team and is piloting a Toyota Hilux IMT Evo in the Car T1+ category.

Botterill has experienced mixed fortunes in his two previous Dakar outings, finishing in an incredible sixth place in his rookie year, before being forced to withdraw from the 2025 edition due to mechanical issues and a heavy crash.

“I am looking forward to putting the whole package together,” said Botterill.

“Obviously, our disadvantage coming from South Africa is that we never drive in the dunes. So I focused on training in the dunes in Dubai and in smaller races to get used to it.

“I also had the chance to do the W2RC in Abu Dhabi, where we finished sixth. So, I hope we will stay calm and play the Dakar game. It is not always about winning stages, but about being consistent.”

The duo started the Dakar well, finishing 15th in the prologue stage on Saturday despite an early puncture. They improved to sixth in the first official stage on Sunday after some excellent driving in technical conditions.

Another puncture and more technical difficulties on Monday’s stage two proved their biggest obstacle so far, forcing the pair into 37th for the stage and 25th overall, just under 33 minutes behind the leading team.

“Stage 2 was incredibly challenging, physically difficult with no power steering early on,” said Botterill.

“But our team did a great job at a repair stop and managed to get us going again. What felt like hours of lost time turned out to be roughly 30 minutes.”

Teams are currently facing off in the town of AlUla, before moving on to Hail on Thursday.

Visit dakar.com for live updates and official rankings.

Follow Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and BMT (Guy Botterill Motorsport Team) on Facebook to hear from the drivers directly.

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