EXCITEMENT FOR TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WITH 1-2 ON STAGE 3 OF DAKAR 2021
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel recorded their second consecutive stage win on Dakar 2021, when they powered their Toyota Hilux to the fastest time over 403 kilometres of dunes and sandy tracks that made up Stage 3 of the event, a loop starting and ending in Wadi Ad-Dawasir. This moves them into second position in the overall standings, just over five minutes behind the lead, as the pair continues to challenge for a fourth Dakar Rally victory.
Newcomer Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings drove a perfect stage to record the second fastest time on Stage 3, trailing teammates Nasser and Mathieu by just 2min 27sec. The impressive performance rocketed the pair to seventh position overall as the leading rookie crew, 47min 25sec from the lead.
Dakar veteran Giniel de Villiers and navigator Alex Haro started the day as the 17th car into the stage which brought more challenges for the embattled crew. Having lost more than two hours yesterday, the pair suffered a broken driveshaft early on in Stage 3, which not only cost them time for repairs, but dropped them into the dust of slower competitors. Two punctures added to their woes, losing 37min 47sec.
The fourth TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Hilux, in the hands of Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy, also suffered a broken driveshaft early on, followed by five punctures, costing the crew more than two hours but improved to 44th place overall.
Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “It was a really big stage today and not at all what we expected. We knew the stage was just over 400 km long, but there were plenty of rocks that weren’t mentioned in the briefing. Even so, it was good day for us, with Nasser and Mathieu winning the stage despite opening the road, and gaining valuable time over Stéphane Peterhansel. I think the big news today is Henk and Brett, second overall, two-and-a-half minutes behind Nasser. What a fantastic day for the team, with our first one-two stage finish in a long time so everyone is very excited here in the bivouac.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (No. 301): “Today was a really good day for us even though it was quite tough out there for everyone. At 407 kilometers, the stage was quite long with a lot of big dunes and fast tracks. There were many dangerous sections, but we did a really good job opening the stage and winning it too. We’ll try to keep going in the same direction every day but there’s still a long way to go, and we have some more work to do in order to close the gap to Stéphane Peterhansel in front of us. There are nine more stages to go and I’m sure there will be more tricky stages in the mix which could really shake things up.”
Giniel de Villiers (No. 304): “It was another challenging day and things just seem don’t want to go our way this year. We had a driveshaft failure on the left rear, which caused us to get stuck in the dunes. It happened in a really bad spot, so changing it took a long time. While we were changing the shaft, some cars and two trucks came past us and we had to deal with their dust when we got going again. We also had two punctures after that, so it was quite an eventful day for us. But we’re still here, so we’ll just keep going and try again tomorrow.”
Henk Lategan (No. 332): “It seems like the lessons from the first two days are starting to pay off a little. I have no doubt that we’ll have a few more difficult days coming our way, and tomorrow might be one of those due to our position on the road. Today was really nice, clean and fast. We were very comfortable in the car. Brett and I were both calm in the car which seems to be one of the keys to Dakar.”
Shameer Variawa (No. 330): “It was another hectic day for us. We broke a driveshaft early in the stage. It took us some time to change it but we got going again, then we had four punctures. We used all three our own spares and then ran out. We sat waiting for about 45 minutes until one of the other Toyota crews stopped to give us a spare. Next, we came across Bernhard ten Brinke who had rolled, so we took both of his remaining spares before suffering a final puncture. Overall, not an easy day.”
2021 Dakar Rally Stage 3 Results:
1st No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, 3hr 17min 39sec
2nd No. 332 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, +2min 27sec
27th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +37min 47sec
49rd No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +2hr 6min 39sec
2021 Dakar Rally Overall Results After Stage 3:
2nd No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, +5min 09sec
7th No. 332 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, +47min 25sec
24th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +1hr 46min 05sec
44th No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +4hr 34min 13sec
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing OPENS DAKAR 2021 ACCOUNT WITH STAGE 2 WIN
Winners of the 2019 Dakar Rally, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, recorded their first stage win of the 2021 event by posting the fastest time on the 457-kilometre Stage 2. The strong stage result propelled them into third position in the overall standings, 9min 14sec behind the lead.
After a good performance on the opening stage, Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro lost more than 45 minutes today due to navigational difficulties, completing the stage in 38th place. To make matters worse, the pair were penalised for missing a waypoint and now sits in 23rd overall.
Giniel de Villiers and navigator Alex Haro suffered four flat tyres today, the last being a slow puncture which forced the crew to stop and inflate the tyre using a manual on-board system. They finished the stage in 14th place, 23min 16sec from the overall leader.
Rookie Henk Lategan and navigator, Brett Cummings, finished Stage 2 in 14th despite losing time after getting stuck in the dunes at the start of the stage. They lost additional time due to navigational problems and they are now 16th position in the overall standings.
Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy lost 2hr 19min 04sec on Stage 2, after getting severely stuck in the soft dunes near the start of the timed section. They are now in 45th place overall and will look to improve their performance on tomorrow’s Stage 3, a loop of 403 kilometres, starting and ending at Wadi Ad-Dawasir on the edge of the Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter.
Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “Nasser was absolutely on it today. He pushed really hard throughout the stage and really made no mistakes with Mathieu doing a great job. Without any punctures, he was able to not only match the pace of the leaders, but to finish ahead of yesterday’s stage winners. This keeps him in the thick of the fight at the front end of the field. The rest of our crews had mixed results, with all three cars losing time to navigational difficulties, and getting stuck in the soft dunes at the start of the stage. But, it is early days yet and we’re looking forward to the remainder of the rally.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (No. 301): “I’m happy to have won the stage today. It wasn’t an easy stage, and the buggies were still really fast. But I think we’ll change our mindset a little, to push every day and aim for a spot in the Top 3. Overall, I’m quite happy, and we’ll see what we can achieve on Stage 3.”
Giniel de Villiers (No. 304): “Today was an absolute disaster with the navigation, and I think we did about 50 kilometres more than we needed to. We were in the right place, and if we just continued another 500 metres it would’ve been fine. Then, there was another waypoint that the GPS didn’t pick up, so it was a nightmare. It was very disappointing, because it went okay up until the first error, but then the whole pack of cards came tumbling down.”
Henk Lategan (No. 332): “It was another tough day on the Dakar. Right at the start I made a mistake and we got stuck on a dune for quite some time. Then, still in the dunes, we struggled to find one of the waypoints, possibly because we had added some kilometres to the odometer driving around in the dunes. We turned around just before the waypoint, and had to cross all the difficult dunes we had just cleared again. In the end, the waypoint was right there and we managed to pick up the pace somewhat. Later in the stage the navigation tripped us up again, but we learnt a lot today, and will be putting our new knowledge to the test in Stage 3.”
Shameer Variawa (No. 330): “Today was a day to forget for us. We got stuck in the soft dunes right at the start of the stage, and struggled to get out. To make matters worse, one of our hydraulic jacks lost a base plate and we were forced to dig out the car by hand. This took a lot of time. In the end, it put paid to our aspirations for a Top 10 finish. With that said, the race is far from over and we’ll continue to push over the coming days.”
2021 Dakar Rally Stage 2 Results:
1st No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, 4hr 03min 14sec
14th No. 332 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, +33min 20sec
38th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +1hr 05min 22sec
52nd No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +2hr 19min 04sec
2021 Dakar Rally Overall Results After Stage 2:
3rd No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, +9min 14sec
16th No. 332 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, +49min 03sec
23rd No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +1hr 12min 23sec
45th No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +2hr 31min 39sec
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing CREWS SURVIVE CHALLENGING DAKAR OPENING STAGE
Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro were the best-performing TOYOTA GAZOO Racing crew in eighth place after the 277 km opening stage of Dakar 2021 from Jeddah to Bisha, suffering three punctures that cost them valuable time.
Winners of yesterday’s Prologue, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, found it tough to open the route and lost 12min 34sec to the leaders, completing the first day in 10th place.
Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy, who started from the 26th position on the road, put in a solid performance to finish the opening stage in 12th, 14min 59sec adrift of the leaders.
The challenging first stage saw Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings lose 18min 31sec to the leaders, posting the 14th-fastest time. They suffered multiple punctures and found the navigation tough, but are in a good position for Stage 2, which features a timed section of 457 kilometres between Bisha and Wadi Ad-Dawasir.
Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “When we first saw the times today, we were very concerned. We later learned that Nasser had suffered a puncture and held some performance in reserve over the rocky sections. He lost 12 minutes to Carlos Sainz who won the stage. Under the circumstances, we are happy with his pace today. Henk and Brett also had three punctures which we can maybe chalk up to a lack of experience over the rocky terrain. Had they not lost that time, they’d probably have finished in the top five, but we can only work with the facts. Shameer had a really good stage today, and is in a great starting position for tomorrow. So, overall it is looking pretty good after a lot of tension during the day.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (No. 301): “It was tough to open the stage today and we knew from the start that we would be losing time. There was a lot of dust from the bikes ahead of us and in places there was simply no road, so we had to find the way and lay tracks. But despite this, I’m quite happy with what we achieved today and I’m looking forward to taking on a fresh challenge tomorrow.”
Giniel de Villiers (No. 304): “It was a really hard stage, and I expected our performance to put us further down the order. We had three punctures unfortunately, despite trying to be very careful at the start of the stage. The last one was close to the finish and I tried to make it home but just couldn’t get to the finish, so we had to stop and change it. We also had one navigational problem that saw us go up the wrong valley for about two kilometres before turning around. Under the circumstances, not too bad. Even though we lost some time, we’ll battle on tomorrow.”
Henk Lategan (No. 332): “Today was a baptism of fire. Whatever could go wrong, and whatever mistakes we could make, we made them. We were only a few kilometres in when we got lost for the first time and I’m sure some of the other cars came past us. We lost our way a second time, but finally got into a rhythm and started catching some of the cars ahead of us. This put us right in their dust, in the rockiest part of the stage. We would push to get past, but then get a puncture straightaway. In the end, we had three punctures, got lost twice and had to overtake a number of other crews. It was madness, and not the best way to start our first Dakar.”
Shameer Variawa (No. 330): “This morning we caught up with three or four of the cars ahead, and had to pass them in the dust. Next, we reached a rocky section where we got a puncture, but after that no problems. We had a moment when we smelled something burning in the car, so we pulled over to look for the problem, but couldn’t find it and decided to continue. The dust from the many motorcycles that we passed was also a challenge, but overall we are pleased with today’s performance.”
2021 Dakar Rally Day 1 Results:
8th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +9min 59sec
10th No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, +12min 34sec
12nd No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +14min 59sec
14th No. 332 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, +18min 31sec
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’S NASSER AL-ATTIYAH TO OPEN DAKAR RALLY
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel are in the best possible start position for tomorrow’s 2021 Dakar Rally after finishing fastest on the 11-kilometre Prologue in Jeddah today which will see the pair start their Dakar campaign ahead of the pack in clear air.
Dakar debutant Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings demonstrated their capabilities and will start their first Dakar Rally together in seventh position.
Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro encountered a throttle response problem at the start of the Prologue and will start in 18th position.
Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy will start from 26th position on the road tomorrow.
Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “We are very pleased with Nasser and Mathieu setting the fastest time. They’ve proven before that they are happy to attack from the front. Henk and Brett did exactly what we had hoped they’d do: A solid performance that places them in a good position for Stage 1.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah (No. 301): “It was a good start for us and I’m happy with the results. It wasn’t easy, despite being a short Prologue. There were lots of big rocks and the speed was high. Still, Mathieu did a good job on the notes, and we managed to go fastest. It was a tricky little section and I had to work quite hard, but now we have a good position for the first stage.”
Giniel de Villiers (No. 304): “We had a small problem with the throttle not responding at the start of the prologue, so the team will be taking a good look at the system to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Luckily the problem disappeared shortly after we started, otherwise we could have had big problems. Even so, we lost some time due to the problem – nothing major, and we’ll just have to push a bit on Stage 1.”
Henk Lategan (No. 332): “The stage was okay, even though it was a bit sketchy in the beginning. We got a bit confused with one of the notes and were quite hesitant. But then we found the right way, and managed to post a competitive time regardless.”
Shameer Variawa (No. 330): “I’m glad to have the prologue done and dusted. It was only 11 km long but we went at a good pace and left just a little bit in reserve to stay safe. Now we’re looking forward to Stage 1.”
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