Colin-on-Cars - Time to step up

It is nearly time for someone to step up and be part of the Dakar legend – and the Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Botswana is the place to do it.

The race moves back to Botswana and kicks off in Jwaneng on June 23 and, officially known as the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, or TGRSA 1,000 Desert Race for short, the third round of the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) offers arguably the biggest single prize of the year: Free entry to the Dakar Rally.

The TGRSA 1000 Desert Race has consistently been the longest and toughest motor sport event on the African continent, and as such offers the type of test that is in line with the gruelling Dakar Rally itself.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA are again aligning with the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), organisers of the Dakar Rally, to offer Dakar hopefuls the opportunity to win a free entry to the race.

As before, as this initiative is known, the Road to Dakar is open to all privateers who haven’t previously taken part in the Dakar Rally. The winning competitor can choose to enter the next Dakar or the following one, effectively giving the team a maximum of 18 months to prepare for the race.

This means that crews who have previously won the Dakar Challenge or Road to Dakar but haven’t been able to take up their prize, are eligible to win again in 2023.

In order to further level the playing field for competitors, the organisers of the Dakar Rally have set a rule that both the driver and navigator must be Dakar rookies, neither having taken part in the Dakar Rally before.

Crews hoping to follow in the footsteps of previous Road to Dakar winners need to specifically register for the challenge before the TGRSA 1,000 Desert Race starts. Past winners of the race-within-a-race include Thomas Rundle, Gary Bertholdt, Jason Venter, Hennie de Klerk, Terence Marsh, Jaco van Dyk, Eben Basson and most recently Yannick Panagoitis.

“We are proud to once again host the iconic Desert Race, this time back in Botswana, where the race is one of the biggest sporting events on that country’s calendar,” says Toyota SA Motors Vice-President for Marketing, Glenn Crompton.

“Toyota has been an integral part of South African rally-raid racing for many decades, and our Dakar-winning Hilux T1+ has become a point of pride not only for the company but for South Africans in general. This year, we are again pleased to offer a rookie crew the opportunity to share in the Dakar dream, by hosting the Road to Dakar in Botswana.”

This year’s TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race will take place on 23-25 June, in the area surrounding the town of Jwaneng in southern Botswana.

This area has played host to the race on multiple occasions in the past, though the last time was in 2018, before a move to Selebi Pikwe in 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 Desert Race to be cancelled, and the town of Upington, in South Africa’s Northern Cape, hosted in 2021 and 2022, with the race returning to Botswana for 2023.

https://bit.ly/43NE67K

Colin-on-Cars - New racer and four cars for Toyota's Dakar attack

Four cars and a whole new race beast is the attack plan from Toyota Gazoo Racing for the 2022 Dakar Rally taking place in Saudi Arabia from January 2.

The works team will be spearheaded by Nasser Al-Attiyah and navigator Mathieu Baumel. Giniel de Villiers will be partnered with navigator Dennis Murphy; Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings will return for their second Dakar, and Shameer Variawa will now be partnered with navigator Danie Stassen.

The team will also be fielding an all-new Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+, which conforms to the updated regulations for the T1 category. The prototype car, in temporary raw carbon fibre finish, is currently undergoing testing in preparation for an official reveal later in 2021.

Since finishing second at the 2021 edition of the race, 2019 winners Nasser (Qatar) and Mathieu (France) have powered to victory in the Andalucia Rally; as well as the Baja Spain Aragon. The pair, who won the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies three consecutive times, will be aiming to add a fourth Dakar victory to their resume in 2022.

Giniel and Dennis, both from South Africa, have competed successfully in the South African Cross-Country Series (SACCS), which also serves as a testbed for the continued development of the Toyota Dakar Hilux. They were in the lead of the title chase after three of the seven rounds that make up the series.

Dennis Murphy (left) and Giniel de Villiers

With a crash on Stage 5 of Dakar 2021 forcing South Africans Henk and Brett to retire after posting highly competitive times on Stages 3 and 4, they will be keen to show their pace and mix it up with the more experienced crews ahead of them. Henk’s Dakar debut drew global attention, and the young driver from Johannesburg, who has won the SACCS crown multiple times, will be looking to build significantly on that experience.

Finally, Shameer and Danie, also from South Africa, will complete the four-car team. Shameer, who has won multiple championships in South Africa, finished his first Dakar in 2021, but will now have Danie doing navigational duties. This will be Danie’s first Dakar, but he campaigns in the SACCS together with Shameer, so the two should find it easy to gel in the car.

The new Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ will share components with the Hilux that was first introduced in 2018, and won the race in 2019, but will feature a host of improvements including bigger running gear – tyres of 37 inches, up from 32 inches; together with a tread increase from 245 mm to 320 mm. The new car also has more suspension travel with the previous limit of 280 mm now increased to 350 mm.

Under the hood, the car is now equipped with a 3,5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 engine, sourced from the all-new Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR-S . In standard form, the engine produces 305 kW of power at 5 200 r/min and 650 Nm of torque from 2 000 r/min. However, in race trim, those numbers are significantly higher.

Dakar 2022 will again be based solely in the Saudi Arabian desert, though the race follows a clockwise route this time. The race will start on January 2 in the northern city of Ha’il, before traversing southward to the Empty Quarter. The rest day will be in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on January 8, before the race heads south-westward to the finish in the city of Jeddah on January 14.

The race will kick off with a prologue to determine the starting positions for Stage 1. Two looped stages will also feature on the route, though the details have yet to be announced by the organisers. Finally, the traditional Marathon Stage will see the crews race away from the main bivouac to an unsupported encampment for an overnight stop, before racing back to rejoin their technical crews at the main bivouac. This is a challenging part of the race, that often plays a major role in its outcome.

Nasser Al-Attiyah

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “We are very pleased to announce a team that is very similar to last year. With Nasser and Giniel heading up our attack, and Henk gaining confidence, we are excited to take on the 2022 edition of the Dakar Rally. Our new GR DKR Hilux T1+ is progressing well, and we are confident that the new car will allow us to compete on a new level, come January.”

https://bit.ly/39sKHtJ

 Road to Dakar winners 

Eben Basson and Gerhard Schutte have earned their way to Dakar by winning the Road to Dakar challenge that formed part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA 1000 Desert race at the weekend.

 

This race-within-a-race offers privateer crews the opportunity to win a free entry to the world’s toughest automotive race, the Dakar Rally. This year saw Eben Basson and Gerhard Schutte power their Red-Lined Motorsport VK56 to victory in the Road to Dakar, opening the door for the pair to take on the iconic race in either 2022 or 2023. 

Basson/Schutte’s Desert Race got off to a rocky start when the pair suffered a time penalty after the Pirelli Qualifying Race on the Friday of the race weekend. Despite competing in his first marathon event, Basson proved equal to the challenge of the mammoth event, and fought his way back up the standings. 

At the midpoint of the event, the pair were up into 13th place in the Production Category, and managed to improve to 9th place in both the overall standings and Class FIA by the end of the race.

 

Basson follows in the footsteps of Treasury One’s Hennie de Klerk who won a free entry to the Dakar Rally in 2017, when he was the first of the registered Dakar Challengers to cross the line in Botswana. Winners in 2018 and 2019 were not able to take up the Dakar challenge for various reasons, but this year the Road to Dakar was even more valuable than before. 

For 2021, the prize included a cash allocation of 8,000 euros which will go towards securing the funds necessary to compete in the race.