SOLID PERFORMANCES BY TOYOTA GAZOO RACING CREWS ON STAGE 6 OF DAKAR 2022

Jan 7, 2022

Shameer/Danie fastest of the TGR crews
Nasser/Mathieu extend overall lead going into Rest Day
Safe progress by Giniel/Dennis
Tough day for Henk/Brett, opening the road

The final stage leading up to the mid-point of Dakar 2022, Stage 6, saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Shameer Variawa and co-driver Danie Stassen record their best finish of the race to date, posting the 7th-fastest time on the stage. The GR DKR Hilux T1+ crew trailed the stage winners home by 4min 6sec, moving up into 17th place in the overall standings.

The South African pairing started as the 24th car on the road, and made the most of their position towards the middle of the field. They powered their Toyota Hilux through a very tricky stage of 348km that saw many of the top crews falter. Their car ran perfectly throughout the stage, and they came through without any punctures, bringing them to the mid-point of the race well within the Top 20.

Nasser Al Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel continued their steady progress at Dakar 2022, taking no chances during the final stage before the Rest Day. The Qatari driver and his Andorran co-driver recorded the 10th-fastest time on the day, trailing the stage winners by 6min 16sec at the end. Even so, they increased their lead in the overall classification to 48min 54sec, with six stages to go.

In an about turn, the FIA stewards decided to reverse their decision to penalise Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy for an incident with a biker during Stage 2 of the rally, based on new evidence they received. Their initial penalty of five hours sent the pair tumbling down the order, but the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing crew continued to push despite the setback, and with the penalty removed, find themselves in 4th place in the overall standings, 51min 56sec behind teammates Nasser and Mathieu.

The South Africans suffered a single puncture on Stage 6, but lost time due to poor visibility towards the end of the stage. Despite this, they posted the 14th-fastest time on the stage, 9min 19sec behind the winners. They go to the Rest Day with a podium position in reach, as they are just 1min 31sec behind third place, and 3min 2sec behind second.

Stage 6 was a challenging one for the winners of Stage 5. Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings recorded their first Dakar stage win the day before, but this meant that they had to open the road Stage 6. With the bikes following a different route, there were no tracks for the Toyota Hilux crew to follow, and they had to pick their own way across the Saudi Arabian landscape.

Two punctures in the latter part of the stage didn’t help their cause, and they lost 24min 20sec on the day. This sees them slip to 42nd in the overall standings, after losing significant time earlier in the race.

The Rest Day follows next, and will give the race crews a chance to recuperate while the technical crews repair and prepare the cars for the final six stages of the 2022 Dakar Rally. The event started with a prologue on January 1st, and six stages were completed before the Rest Day near the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The rally is scheduled to end on January 14th, in the city of Jeddah.

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “Today saw Shameer and Danie show their true pace, in a stage that was really surprisingly tricky, especially when it came to navigation. They had a clean run with no punctures, and we’re really pleased to see them do so well. At the same time, Nasser and Mathieu managed the stage very well, maintaining their position at the head of the field, going into the Rest Day with a handy lead. Giniel and Dennis also kept their heads down and their noses clean, and they continue to post highly competitive stage times. It was a bit of a tough day for Henk and Brett, having to open the road after winning Stage 5. But they came through without any real drama. Overall, we’re pleased with our performance on Stage 6.”

Henk Lategan: “A really tough day for us. We started okay, even though it was difficult to open the road. But we managed a good pace at the start, until we went wrong in one of the canyons. We lost a lot of time there, but so did many other crews. We eventually picked up the correct route, and quickly got back to the head of the field, only to get lost again near a river. After finding the route again, we had two punctures, and in the end, we joined the front-runners for the final dune crossing to the finish.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: “It was a tough but good day for us. The navigation was especially difficult, but Mathieu again did a good job. Our car and the tyres have been working well. The last part of the stage was very difficult, but everybody just followed us out. We are very happy to have a good lead after the first week of the rally, and now we just have to concentrate on managing the race during the second week of the Dakar.”

Giniel de Villiers: “Today’s stage was quite tricky, with difficult navigation, and towards the end the visibility in the dunes was really bad. We all ended up following Nasser through the final section, and a lot of cars finished together. In the end it was a good stage for us, with only one puncture and otherwise no problems.”

Shameer Variawa: “Today we had a clean run, no punctures, no problems. There was a lot of dust though, and we were quite surprised with our time when we got to the finish. We thought we’d be quite far down, especially with all the dust, but I see we posted a good time. Overall, it was a good stage for us.”

Stage 6 Results:

1. Terranova (ARG) / Carreras (ARG) Bahrain Raid Xtreme 3hr 6min 45sec

2. Ekstrom (SWE) / Bergkvist (SWE) Team Audi Sport +1min 6sec

3. Al Rajhi (SAU) / Orr (GBR) Overdrive Toyota +1min 49sec

4. Baragwanath (ZAF) / Cremer (ZAF) Century Racing +3min 6sec

5. Roma (ESP) / Bravo (ESP) Bahrain Raid Xtreme +3min 34sec

7. Variawa (ZAF) / Stassen (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +4min 6sec

10. Al Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +6min 16sec

14. De Villiers (ZAF) / Murphy (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +9min 19sec

31. Lategan (ZAF) / Cummings (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +24min 20sec

Rankings after Stage 6:

1. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux 20hr 37min 24sec

2. Al Rajhi (SAU) / Orr (GBR) Overdrive Toyota +48min 54sec

3. Loeb (FRA) / Lurquin (BEL) Bahrain Raid Xtreme +50min 25sec

4. De Villiers (ZAF) / Murphy (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +51min 56sec

5. Alvarez (ARG) / Monleon (ESP) Overdrive Toyota +1hr 6min 58sec

17. Variawa (ZAF) / Stassen (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +2hr 57min 57sec

42. Lategan (ZAF) / Cummings (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +9hr 43min 2sec

SECOND CONSECUTIVE STAGE VICTORY FOR TOYOTA GAZOO RACING, AS LATEGAN/CUMMINGS TRIUMPH ON STAGE 5 OF DAKAR 2022

Jan 6, 2022

Maiden Stage win for Henk/Brett
Steady progress by Nasser/Mathieu, who remain in overall lead
Solid performance by Giniel/Dennis
Shameer/Danie into Top 20 overall

Stage 5 of the 2022 Dakar Rally brought a maiden win for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings. The South Africans had an eventful stage, including a problem with the driver’s door and two punctures, but still set the fastest time over the stage, besting their nearest competitors by 1min 58sec.

The crew came close to a stage victory during the previous stage, but a broken wheel hub put paid to their efforts, sending them tumbling down the overall order. The pair had arrived in the bivouac at 10pm after Stage 4, and left for the start at Stage 5 just after 6am. Despite the lack of sleep, they pushed hard throughout Stage 5, and reaped the reward of a stage win. They are still in 35th place in the overall rankings, after losing hours on Stage 1B and again on Stage 4.

Stage 5 also saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Nasser Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel maintain their position at the top of the overall standings. The pair were the first car into Stage 5, having won Stage 4 the previous day. This meant that they had to open the road on a stage where there were no motorbike tracks to aid navigation, and when their nearest competitor caught up with them, the Toyota Hilux crew elected to complete the final 100km of the stage together with the competitor.

As a result, they restricted their time loss on the stage to just 3min, and remain in the lead, more than 35min clear of the opposition. With one stage to go before the mid-point of Dakar 2022, Nasser and Mathieu are well-placed in the rally, and they’ll have a good road position (8th) for Stage 6.

Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy were handed a 5hr penalty after an incident with a biker in Stage 2 of the rally, sending them down the order in the overall standings. The pair continued to push their limits on Stage 5, posting the 7th-fastest time on the day. They recorded a clean run, with no mechanical problems or punctures, but the penalty sees them down in 33rd place in the overall standings.

The stage also brought a good result for Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen, who had struggled with a run of bad luck earlier in the rally. They started Stage 5 at a good pace, before a puncture slowed them down once again. In the end, a navigational challenge cost them nearly 15min, however, and they finished the stage in 23rd position, 21min 7sec behind Henk and Brett. Despite the time loss, their performance was good enough to move them into the Top 20 of the rally overall, and they are now in 19th place, 3hr 7min behind Nasser and Mathieu.

The bivouac will remain in place near Riyadh for Stage 6 of the 2022 Dakar Rally, as well as the upcoming Rest Day on January 8th. Stage 6 will see the crews complete a liaison of 89km prior to the start of the stage, with another liaison of 128km after the timed section. In between lies a test of 348km, incorporating dunes, sandy tracks and a large portion of hard-packed soil.

This is the last stage prior to the Rest Day, where the race crews will get one day to recuperate, before tackling the second half of the rally. During the Rest Day, the technical crews will strip all the race cars, before reassembling them in preparation for the final push towards the finish in Jeddah, on January 14th.

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal:“What a day for South African motorsport! We have new stage winners in the form of Henk and Brett, and we are extremely proud of their performance today. They came close yesterday, but today they managed to make a dream come true, despite some setbacks along the way. It was also a good day for Nasser and Mathieu, who managed to retain their overall lead despite opening the road on one of the trickiest stages of the race so far. Giniel and Dennis had a perfectly clean stage, and posted an excellent stage time, while Shameer and Danie showed good form to move into the Top 20 in the overall standings.”

Henk Lategan:“This was a proper Dakar day! It started early in the stage, when my door suddenly opened. I don’t know what happed, but it looks like the latch is gone. I drove holding the door closed with my one hand up until the first decontrol. There, I zip-tied the door closed as best as I could, and set off on the stage again, only to get a puncture. This posed a problem, as I had to clamber out through the co-driver’s door in order to help change the wheel. We set off again, just to get a second puncture later in the stage. This one posed a bigger problem, as the second spare was located under my seat, which meant we had to cut the cable ties to get to the spare. Overall, we expected to lose time on the stage, but when we got to the finish, we heard that we’d posted the fastest time. I couldn’t believe it, but I’m ecstatic to have won my first Dakar stage.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: “We did a good job again today, and Mathieu was simply amazing with his navigation. We were a little cautious in places, and decided to drive with Sebastien (Loeb) for the last 100km or so. We knew that, if we stayed with him, we could restrict our time loss to under three minutes. I’m also very happy with the performance of our Toyota Hilux, which ran perfectly again today. We have a good road position for Stage 6, and I’m hoping to set another good stage time.”

Giniel de Villiers: “It was a tough stage, especially in terms of navigation. We started as the sixth car on the road, but pretty soon we were up into third, with just Nasser and Sebastien (Loeb) in front of us. In places we lost their tracks completely, and had to pick our own way across the terrain. The middle part of the stage was fast, but navigation again became tricky towards the end. Overall, we had a clean stage with no punctures, and we’re really happy with our result today.”

Shameer Variawa: “We again had a very good start to the stage, but a puncture brought a halt to our progress. Then we struggled to find one of the waypoints, and lost nearly 15min hunting for it. But we are here and moving up the leaderboard, so we’ll fight again tomorrow.”

Stage 5 Results:

1. Lategan (ZAF) / Cummings (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux 3hr 53min 28sec

2. Loeb (FRA) / Lurquin (BEL) BRX Prodrive Hunter +1min 58sec

3. Alvarez (ARG) / Monleon (ESP) Benzina Orlen Toyota Hilux +2min 10sec

4. Serradori (FRA) / Minaudier (FRA) SRT Racing CR-6 +2min 24sec

5. Chicherit (FRA) / Winocw (FRA) GCK Motorsport Buggy +2min 59sec

7. De Villiers (ZAF) / Murphy (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +4min 29sec

8. Al Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +4min 53sec

23. Variawa (ZAF) / Stassen (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +21min 7sec

Rankings after Stage 5:

1. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux 17h 24min 23sec

2. Loeb (FRA) / Lurquin (BEL) BRX Prodrive Hunter +35min 10sec

3. Alvarez (ARG) / Monleon (ESP) Benzina Orlen Toyota Hilux +51min 15sec

4. Al Rajhi (SAU) / Orr (GBR) Overdrive Toyota +1hr 6min 23sec

5. Vasilyev (RAF) / Uperenko (LVA) VRT Team BMW X5 +1hr 7min 52sec

19. Variawa (ZAF) / Stassen (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +3hr 7min 0sec

33. De Villiers (ZAF) / Murphy (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +5hr 48min 53sec

35. Lategan (ZAF) / Cummings (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +9h 24min 58sec

ANOTHER STAGE VICTORY FOR TOYOTA GAZOO RACING AS AL-ATTIYAH AND BAUMEL EXTEND THEIR DAKAR LEAD

Jan 5, 2022

Second stage win for Nasser/Mathieu at Dakar 2022
Solid 6th place for Giniel/Dennis as they close in on third overall
Small niggles bring delays for Shameer/Danie
Disappointment for Henk/Brett as a near stage win slips away

TOYOTA GAZOO Racings’ Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel recorded their second stage victory of the 2022 Dakar Rally, when they triumphed in Stage 4, between Al Qaisumah and Riyadh. The Toyota Hilux crew had a clean run, and managed to extend their overall lead in the rally to 38min 05sec. This after teammates Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings set the pace during the first half of the stage, only to see what seemed like a certain win slip away from them.

The South African pairing started the stage on a charge, trading blows with veteran Carlos Sainz at the head of the field. Their pace was electric, and mid-way through the longest stage of this year’s event, a stage win looked assured. But their charge came to a halt when the right-rear wheel hub broke off the Hilux, leaving them stranded in the desert until the assistance truck caught up with them.

This dealt a second, crippling blow to their Dakar 2022 campaign, following the three hours that they lost during Stage 1B of the event. The pair eventually made their way to the bivouac at Riyadh, where the technical crew repaired their GR DKR Hilux T1+, in preparation for Stage 5 of the event.

Stage 4 brought a good result for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy, in the #207 Toyota Hilux. They started the day in fourth place in the overall standings, and maintained a steady pace throughout the day. They caught up with a slower car mid-stage, but hit a rock in thick dust when attempting to pass. This caused a puncture, which they were forced to change, before setting off again.

At this point, teammates Nasser and Mathieu caught up with them, and Giniel elected to let the rally leaders pass, following them to the end of the stage without further incident. Giniel and Dennis remain in 4th place overall, but are now just 2sec behind the crew ahead of them – fellow-Toyota Hilux driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Michael Orr.

For Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen, Stage 4 started very well. The pair passed four slower cars, and were setting a competitive pace. A puncture broke their rhythm, however, and the pair struggled with a variety of small niggles that cost them time. This included window wipers that didn’t work, and also getting stuck in a muddy section. Despite this, they recorded the 25th-fastest time of the day, and are now in 23rd position in the overall standings.

With the bivouac now set up near the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, the Dakar has reached the final stages before the Rest Day. Stages 5 and 6 will both be looped stages, starting and ending near Riyadh. First up is Stage 5, which features a timed section of 395km over hard-packed soil, sand and dunes. A liaison of 110km will link the start of the stage with the bivouac, and the crews will cover the same distance when they return after completing the stage.

Dakar 2022 will reach its mid-point on January 8th, with the traditional Rest Day taking place in Riyadh. Six more stages will follow after that, with the rally drawing to a close in the city of Jeddah on January 14th.

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “Today brought some great results for the team, with Nasser and Mathieu winning the stage; and Giniel and Dennis recording a solid result. Unfortunately, Shameer and Danie experienced some niggles that put them back a bit, but they should be fighting fit again tomorrow. But the big disappointment was with Henk and Brett, who led the stage for more than 200km. They stopped to change a punctured wheel, and some kilometres later the tracking showed that they had come to a stop. The right rear wheel hub had broken off, forcing them to wait for the support truck’s assistance. Obviously, we’re very concerned about the cause of the problem, so we’ll be investigating thoroughly once they return to the bivouac.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: “Today was a good day for us, without any problems. We’ll try to keep this rhythm going for the coming days, starting with tomorrow’s stage where we’ll be opening the road.”

Giniel de Villiers: “It was a long stage, and the first part was really fast, with some difficult sections that could catch you out. The second part brought some nice dune crossings, and the last part was quite fast again, with riverbeds and some rocks. We had a fairly good stage, though we had a puncture after the restart in the middle of the stage. We were stuck in the dust of (Mattias) Ekstrom, and hit a rock that we couldn’t see, so we had to stop and change the wheel. This put us back a bit, and Nasser caught up with us. I decided to let him past, and we just followed him to the finish.”

Shameer Variawa: “We started the stage with an excellent first stint, overtaking four or five cars. But then we had a puncture, and the little niggles started creeping in. First, we couldn’t get one of the wheel nuts off, and then there were more little problems that caused us to lose a lot of time. We can only hope that tomorrow is a better day for us.”

Stage 4 Results:

1. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux 3hr 54min 40sec

2. Loeb (FRA) / Lurquin (BEL) BRX Prodrive Hunter +25sec

3. Sainz (ESP) / Cruz (ESP) Team Audi Sport +52sec

4. Seaidan (SAU) / Kuzmich (RAF) X-Raid Mini JCW Team +1min 34sec

5. Al Rajhi (SAU) / Orr (GBR) Overdrive Toyota +1min 46sec

6. De Villiers (ZAF) / Murphy (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +3min 55sec

25. Variawa (ZAF) / Stassen (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +27min 31sec

63. Lategan (ZAF) / Cummings (ZAF) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux +5h 58min 45sec

Rankings after Stage 4:

1. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Baumel (AND) TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux 13h 26min 02sec

2. Loeb (FRA) / Lurquin (BEL) BRX Prodrive Hunter +38min 05sec