• Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel 4th on stage and extend overall lead
• 6th on stage for Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings
• 9th on stage for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy

A relatively clean 4th stage allowed defending champions, Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel, to extend their overall lead in the 2023 Dakar Rally to 18min 18sec over the privately entered Toyota Hilux T1+ of Yazeed Al Rajhi in second place. A single puncture was the only blot on an otherwise clean sheet for the Qatari superstar and his French co-driver.

• Nasser and Mathieu take overall lead
• 2nd on stage for Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings
• 23rd on stage for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy
• Punctures again play major role
• Stage shortened due to adverse weather conditions

Heavy rains forced the organisers of Dakar 2023 to shorten the third stage, between Al Ula and Ha’il, while punctures again played havoc with many of the crews. Fastest of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing crews on the day was Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, who brought their GR DKR Hilux T1+ to the end of the truncated stage in the second-fastest time, just 3min 26sec behind the winners. This would have moved him into the Top 5 overall, but a penalty from Stage 1 has hampered their progress up the leader board, and they currently find themselves in 11th place overall, 40min 08sec behind the lead.

That lead now belongs to teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel, who had two punctures early in Stage 3. This forced them to slow their pace considerably, as there is a limit of two spares tyres on board cars in the T1+ class. Despite a cautious approach, the TGR crew went 13th-fastest on the stage, relinquishing 20min 58sec to the winners on the day.

However, with some of their nearest competitors in the overall standings falling by the wayside, Nasser and Mathieu moved into the overall lead of Dakar 2023, and find themselves 13min 20sec ahead of the privately entered Toyota Hilux T1+ of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Dirk von Zitzewitz, in second place.

Further back, Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy also had to deal with two early punctures. The crew switched to survival mode, and steadily lost time during the stage. In the end, they managed to restrict their time loss to 28min 40sec on the day, but relinquished two positions in the overall standings. They are currently in 7th place, 32min 08sec behind the lead. They remain in touch with the leaders, however, and will be hoping for less hostile terrain, in terms of punctures, for the coming stages.

Next up is Stage 4 of the event, which starts and finishes near the city of Ha’il. The stage comprises a liaison of 94km leading to the start, as well as a timed special of 425km. Finally, a liaison of 58km will bring the crews back to the bivouac at Ha’il, which serves as the rally’s base for the next three days. This year’s Dakar features 14 stages, with the route taking the crews across the Saudi Arabian landscape from coast to coast, with the final stage concluding in the city of Dammam on January 15th.

• 1st place on Stage 2 for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel
• 6th place on Stage 2 for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy
• Nasser and Mathieu move into 2nd overall
• Giniel and Dennis move up to 5th overall
• Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings move into 10th overall

Stage 2 of Dakar 2023 saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) bounce back after a tough opening stage, with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel winning the stage by 14sec over Toyota Hilux privateer Erik van Loon. The TGR crew moved into 2nd place as a result, trailing the leader by just 2min 12sec.

The stage was punctuated by many sharp rocks, which played havoc with many competitors in the field. Nasser and Mathieu showed their experience, however, by adjusting their pace to match the rough terrain. They suffered only one puncture, and drove a well-controlled stage to record their first stage win of Dakar 2023.

At the same time, teammates Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy posted the 6th-fastest time of the day, trailing the winners by 13min 12sec after suffering two punctures. The Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ crew were forced to slow their pace for the final 200 km of the 430km-long stage, as they had no spare tyres left. Despite this, they reached the finish near the town of Alula safely, and have moved up to 5th place in the overall classification.

The final TGR pairing of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings had a second tough day on the Dakar. They suffered two punctures early on, and another in the latter part of the stage. This left them limping towards the finish as they are allowed only two spare wheels, until they were assisted by another Toyota privateer, Lucas Moraes. With a new tyre fitted, the crew managed to reach the end, losing 32min 12sec on the day. Despite their time loss, many other crews suffered even worse fates, and as a result the TGR crew are in 10th place overall after the opening two stages.

Stage 2 of this year’s Dakar will long be remembered for the way in which it influenced the rally. Many of the top crews fell foul to the extremely rough terrain, and the entire field will be looking forward to the sandier stages to come. Next up is Stage 3, which takes the rally from Alula to the spectacular vistas around Hail. The route comprises 223km of liaison leading from the bivouac at Alula to the start of a 447km-long special stage and joining the stage to the bivouac at Hail.

Dakar 2023 consists of 14 stages and is scheduled to conclude in the city of Dammam on January 15th.

• 6th place on opening stage for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel
• All three GR DKR Hilux T1+ cars ran faultlessly

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) started the defence of its Dakar crown on Sunday, 1 January 2023, with a challenging stage set to the South of the rally’s so-called Sea Camp, the biggest bivouac in the 45-year history of the race. Stage 1 saw defending champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel hold onto a two-minute deficit for the bulk of the stage, before finally setting the 6th-fastest time in their updated GR DKR Hilux T1+, despite facing some navigational challenges towards the end of the stage. This left them 7min 17sec adrift of the lead.

The champions started their rally by posting the 4th fastest time on the short, sharp Prologue, which was run on the last day of 2022, to determine the starting order for the opening stage. After the Top 10 finishers in the Prologue nominated their starting positions, Nasser and Mathieu took to the stage as the 7th car on the road.

The TGR crew drove at a steady pace, finding their feet over the opening kilometres of the stage. Unfortunately, a tricky navigational section towards the end of the stage cost them some time, finishing at 6th place.

Things started with a literal bang for Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings. The winners of two stages during Dakar 2022 finished the Prologue in 10th place, forcing them to open the road for the first stage. They had barely started the stage when contact with a low-hanging branch shattered the windscreen of their car, severely limiting their visibility.

They drove with the broken windscreen until they suffered a puncture some 29km into the stage. The stop gave them the opportunity to remove the windscreen and change to individual goggles, which they had to wear for the remainder of the 367km-long stage, which started near Sea Camp, and finished 193km to the south of the bivouac.

Despite the challenge of opening the road, suffering a puncture and having to drive with no windscreen, the TGR crew managed to record the 11th-fastest time, 11min 45sec behind the leaders. They will be aiming for a clean run on Stage 2, with the hope of improving on their current position.

Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy fell foul not only to a mid-stage puncture, but also found the going tough in terms of navigation. Their performance on the opening stage netted them 18th position for the day, leaving them with a deficit of 18min 31sec to the stage winners. The 2009 winner of the rally and his co-driver will be pushing hard during Stage 2, in order to remain in touch with the leading group.

Stage 2 will also see the Dakar Rally move from its base at Sea Camp for the first time in five days, as the event moves to the canyons of Alula, to the northeast of its starting point. The day will start with a liaison of 159km, with a timed section of 430km up next, before the stage ends just 1km from the next bivouac. Stage 2 promises more sandy tracks, with a small number of dunes, mixed with rocky traverses.

Dakar 2023 is scheduled to finish on 15 January, 2023, in the city of Dammam. In between lie 13 more stages, spanning across the Saudi landscape and into the so-called Empty Quarter where a sea of dunes await the competitors.