Dakar - 1-14 Jan 22

TOYOTA GAZOO RACING PRIMED FOR DAKAR RALLY ACTION

Posted: December 31, 2021 3:09 PM

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will be entering a four-car team for the 2022 edition of the Dakar Rally. This team will again be spear-headed by 2019 Dakar Rally winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, with Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy assisting in the attack. 2021 saw Henk Lategan join the Dakar Rally as a rookie, but the triple South African Cross-Country champion and his co-driver, Brett Cummings, will be looking to improve on their performance during the previous race, where they crashed out on Stage 5 after a strong opening. Finally, Shameer Variawa and new co-driver Danie Stassen will complete the line-up for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing at Dakar 2022.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel are fresh from victory at the Hail International Rally, which also secured them the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, making them the clear favourites to win the upcoming Dakar Rally, which takes place in Saudi Arabia from January 1, 2022 until January 14, 2022.

Nasser and Mathieu sealed the World Cup victory after winning four of this year’s six events, including the Andalusia Rally, Rally of Morocco, Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and the Hail International Rally. The pair elected to sit out two rounds, due to prior commitments, effectively winning every round they entered.

While the World Cup was won using the previous specification Toyota Hilux, the team will be fielding the all-new Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ at the Dakar Rally, which will be the car’s maiden international outing with the team. The new car features the twin turbo V6 petrol engine from the new Toyota Land Cruiser, together with bigger wheels, a new, single-shock suspension system with more travel, and a bold new look.

The new car has been thoroughly tested, with the latest session in the Kalahari Desert confirming the team’s setup for the 2022 Dakar Rally. A new damper setup has been employed in the car, and comprehensive testing at the team’s private facility has shown significant progress in terms of the development of the new car. Both Nasser and Giniel de Villiers have tweaked the car over the final weeks before the race, and the team is confident that the current setup offers an excellent balance between handling and outright speed.

The 2022 Dakar Rally is not only one of the toughest automotive races in the world, but it is also the first round of the new FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). Nasser and Mathieu will be campaigning the new GR DKR Hilux T1+ in next year’s championship, and as such the Dakar Rally plays a pivotal role in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s quest to secure the inaugural W2RC manufacturer, driver and co-driver titles.

Dakar 2022 is set to start on January 1st, with a liaison from the city of Jeddah to Ha’il. The road section covers 815km, and will be followed by a short, timed section of 19km, which will be used to determine the starting orders for Stage 1.

The route then moves in a clockwise direction, visiting towns such as Al Artawiyah and Al Qaisumah before reaching the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Here, the bivouac will remain in place for several days, until the rest day on January 8th. From Riyadh, the race will continue to Al Dawadimi, Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha, before concluding in Jeddah on January 14th.

CAR NUMBERS:

201 - Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel
207 - Giniel de Villiers / Dennis Murphy
225 - Henk Lategan / Brett Cummings
233 - Shameer Variawa / Danie Stassen

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal:
“The team is fully prepared for the upcoming Dakar, and we are excited to test our new Hilux T1+ against the competition. We’re confident that the new car has put us on an all new level, but you never know just how good you are until the flag drops for the start of the race. We can’t wait to get going in Hail.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah:
“We are very proud of winning the 2021 World Cup – a third victory for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. The car that brought us all the wins in 2021 was extremely reliable and very fast, but the new car is definitely better. We’re ready to attack from the start at the Dakar Rally, as we’ll be aiming for the top step of the podium.”

Giniel de Villiers:
“We’ve been plagued by many punctures during the previous few Dakar Rallies, but we hope that the new T1+ specification will give us an opportunity to attack throughout the event. The new car and new engine is a powerful combination, and we are confident that we’ll be able to take the fight to the competition.”

Henk Lategan:
“For me, Dakar 2022 is a chance to show what I am truly capable of. Brett and I had an excellent outing at Dakar 2021, but unfortunately our progress was cut short in Stage 5. We are very excited about our prospects for the upcoming event.”

Shameer Variawa:
“Last year was my first Dakar finish, but I am confident that 2022 will bring an even better result. This time around, I don’t just want to finish – I want to show what I’m capable of in one of the world’s toughest automotive races. The new Hilux T1+ is an extremely good car, so now the work is up to me and Danie Stassen, who will be racing in his first Dakar Rally.”

BRX set for the Dakar

Posted: December 31, 2021 3:08 PM

The Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) team has completed an extensive test in the UAE for the forthcoming Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in less than 20 days’ time with all three drivers in the team completing long days and hard kilometres over the dunes and rocky tracks in Dubai. Nani Roma/Alex Haro, Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin and Orlando Terranova/Dani Oliveras all drove the Prodrive Hunter T1+ in extreme temperatures testing suspension, engine settings and the new Prodrive EcoPower fuel.

“We set them particularly challenging routes through the desert, to test the cars and the crews,” said BRX team principal, Gus Beteli. “2021 was our Dakar debut and we have learnt a great deal from that about what it takes to win the most arduous motor race in the world. Having a strong, reliable and fast car is clearly important, but equally so is navigation. The driver and co-driver have to work as a team, and in-car communication is key. The test gave them plenty of time to work on these skills.”

The new T1+ cars are heavier than the T1 cars but with the same power and that means a slight difference in feeling for the drivers and they’ve had to adjust their driving accordingly, but this was pinpointed and assimilated during the test. Aside from driving to the new FIA speed limit of 170kph the crews drove over camel grass, very soft sand, rocks and broken dunes to push the car to the limit plus as many possible scenarios that appear on the world’s hardest and longest motorsport event that will cover 8,375 kms.

Throughout the test the cars have been running on the Prodrive EcoPower fuel that has been specifically developed for the Hunter. The sustainable fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to petrol, as it is made from generation 2 biofuel manufactured from agricultural waste and efuels created from carbon capture while it also conforms to the latest FIA regulations.

Nani Roma said: “It was our target to spend a great deal of good time in the car and we did that on this very productive test. With a T1 + car with the larger wheels I can now maintain our speed in places where I never could before; The main thing is that the car is strong, and for me that is the main point following this test as together with Alex we spent long hours in the car doing many different tasks and that’s built up an even greater team spirit in the car and with the BRX team to lead us towards Saudi Arabia and the Dakar. These are exciting times.”

Sebastien Loeb said: “There’s a bit of everything we did in the test as we needed the kilometres to prepare for the Dakar. Our ambition is to obviously do as well as possible on the rally but the Dakar is always so tricky and you need to put everything together; the driving, the navigation, to have a strong car and to avoid the mistakes with the driving but our absolute goal would be to win Dakar and following this test we can genuinely start to think about that.”

Orlando Terranova said: “The new car is incredible as it is very easy to drive and you feel confident for the speed and with the safety. It’s really such a superb job from the team to build this car so as a squad if we can make the first place that would be an incredible result. To use this new fuel to keep the emissions down and to improve the planet step by step is truly amazing, but it’s the performance too and to have these two together is so important and something I’m proud of.”

Event Website / Details

Posted: December 31, 2021 2:51 PM

Dakar Rally