Report on the 2018 Dakar Rally

The 40th Dakar Rally is complete. Over 14 stages at just under 9,000km, the rally began with a return to Peru, took the competitors through Bolivia and then finished in Argentina. For an already tough rally, this year piled on the difficulty with only 55% of competitors finishing.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa enjoyed a good amount of success with #301 Nasser Al-Attiyah coming in 2nd, #304 Giniel De Villiers coming in 3rd.
Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body claimed their 5th Production Category victory in a row as #337 Akira Miura came in 1st.
Overdrive Toyota performed admirably, cracking the top 10 by coming in 10th this year.
General Financing Team Pitlane came in 30th despite losing a wheel on stage 10.

The 40th anniversary of the Dakar Rally has come to an end. Beginning on January 6th, competitors faced just under 9,000km of racing through Peruvian sand dunes, Bolivian mountains and Argentine deserts. Out of the 92 cars that began the trek, 47 of them were Toyotas.

The 2018 Rally started the show with a showstopper; a return to Peru. The competitors were plunged head first into 5 days of hard and soft sands, and dunes large and small. The navigators would have to be on their toes as the cars faced stretches of sand that contained hidden holes and pockets of soft sand, causing lost time as drivers had to constantly adjust their tire’s air pressure. For TGRSA’s Nasser in #301, Peru was his chance to fight back against the Dakar that had sent him out so early in 2017. Nasser and navigator Matthieu Baumel battled through the dunes to first place victories in both stage 1 and 3 with driving described by Nasser himself as “very aggressive.” After three days of constant ups and downs, the pilots were given a short respite on stage 4 with a beach start, however they were soon back to the dunes. Unfortunately, stage 4 was the end for TLC #328 Christian who was forced out of the Dakar due to damage sustained. Stage 5 signaled the end of Peru but there were still many dunes between the competitors and Bolivia. After the Peruvian dunes, the teams had only accolades for their vehicles with TGRSA Team Principal stating “the Hilux is doing amazingly well” and 1st in the Production Category TLC Akira #337 praising his Land Cruiser, “I can really feel the improvements in the engine.”

After the wake-up call that was the Peruvian sands, teams moved into the mountainous Bolivian terrain on Stage 6; climbing up 4,722m in altitude. The Toyota vehicles took the thin air and standing mud pools in stride, posing no real issues as the teams arrived in La Paz for the following rest day. There, fans had a chance to celebrate with their favorite teams and machines. Unfortunately, heavy rains made the following marathon stages (Stage 7 and 8) challenging with softer trails and larger pools of standing water. By the end of the marathon, and after traversing 923km; only TGRSA #304 Giniel and Overdrive #318 Lucio had trouble. They both found themselves stuck in 2-meter deep ditches causing a loss of time and ranking for the day. Because of the relentless rain, Stage 9 was canceled making the last day in Bolivia a caravan run into Argentina. Teams had a chance to rest after the marathon stages at the cost of losing another day to rally up the overall rankings.

Argentina would be the final battleground for the Dakar Rally 2018. The Dakar has raced through Argentina every year since the rally moved to South America in 2009. While the competitors may be familiar with the Argentine deserts, that will not tone down the difficulty. TGRSA #304 Giniel started Argentina exceptionally, as he attacked the sand from start to finish, “Navigation was tricky. The stage is more suited for buggies...[but] the result was good. I’m glad that we finished in a good position." As the competitors raced south towards Córdoba, they were faced with endless fesh fesh, a super fine powder-like sand, and vegetation that could get stuck in ventilation grills. The three TGRSA Hilux were going strong in the top five until disaster struck for #309 Bernhard who had to withdraw a day before the finish on stage 13. Bernhard stated, “it is a real heartbreak to go out, but this is the Dakar.” Winner of the stage #301 Nasser added that “it is a real shame that Bernhard went out, I wanted all three of us to finish together tomorrow. Both Bernhard and Michel are real pros.”
The final day belonged to #304 Giniel who managed his first stage victory of Dakar 2018 as he raced over 120km of rocks and river crossings on the Córdoba loop stage. In his career, Giniel has always finished the Dakar and this year keeps the tradition.

With the 2018 Dakar coming to a close, two teams from TGRSA triumphed by making it to the podium. Nasser and Matthieu of #301 came in 2nd overall; and #304 Giniel and Dirk came in 3rd. The teams have much to celebrate with the exceptional ranking and podium finish. TLC driver #337 Akira did exactly what he set out to do; to take on the Dakar, perform excellently and bring home the 5th consecutive Dakar win in a row for TLC. It was a great year for Toyota as well. In the Car Category top 10, five were Toyota vehicles and almost half of the vehicles that finished were Toyotas. Toyota vehicles are known worldwide as tough and reliable; even the Dakar organizers relied on them to caravan around and scout upcoming stage. Dakar Chief of Vehicle operations Fernando Astudillo said of the Toyotas “there is a real trust between the drivers and their Toyotas.” It could be said that the ultimate challenge for these machines is waiting another year to attack the Dakar again. When that time comes, Toyota and the teams that drive them will be ready.