Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC fighting at the front on Dakar Rally Stage 6

• Two DKR GR Hilux in the top four through the dunes on Stage 6
• Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings in second overall after finishing 12^th on Stage 6
• Seth Quintero and Andrew Short earn their second podium of the event in third
• Toby Price and Armand Monleón complete the stage in fourth

Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) earned a podium finish on Stage 6 – the longest of this year’s Dakar Rally – on Friday, after battling through the Saudi sand to stay in contention for overall victory.

Crews travelled 568 miles from Hail to the capital Riyadh, including more than 200 miles of timed action. After the treacherous rocky terrain of earlier days, Stage 6 took place entirely on sand dunes, which brought its own challenges in terms of navigation and dust.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings held the overall lead at the start and established a competitive pace in the early stages. Time lost in the difficult terrain left them 12^th in the No202 DKR GR Hilux but still firmly in the hunt for victory, sitting second overall. They trail Stage 6 winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin (Dacia Sandriders) by just more than six minutes with more than 1,500 miles still to run.

Seth Quintero and Andrew Short were among the front-runners throughout Stage 6 and held second place at the midway point. Despite losing time due to a missed waypoint, the No203 DKR GR Hilux finished third, only 21 seconds behind second-placed Sebastian Loeb and Edouard Boulanger (Dacia Sandriders). They are now 19^th in the overall standings and still recovering from time lost to punctures earlier in the rally.

Toby Price and Armand Monleón showed strong pace to challenge for a podium throughout, but narrowly missed out on the top three, finishing fourth in their #204 DKR GR Hilux. They are 15^th overall and still within reach of the top 10.

After more than 1,200 miles over seven days so far, crews benefited from a rest day on Saturday.

Team quotes

Henk Lategan: “It was a tricky day for us. The first part started okay, and we were running at Nasser’s pace, but we made a couple of mistakes in terms of our line through the dunes. So, it could have been better. But we have a nice road position for when we resume on Sunday and there are some difficult stages coming up, so things can still change. To be close to the lead at this stage is pretty good considering how our rally started. We’ve pulled ourselves back into it and now we’ll give it our best shot in the second week.”

Seth Quintero: “It was a good day for us. We started out front and finished out front. We could push nicely at the beginning. At one stage we had to turn around for a waypoint and that cost us a minute, which was unfortunate. From there, we kept up a good pace, passed a couple of other cars, and had a fun battle. We charged really hard. It’s impressive what the DKR GR Hilux can take because we pushed it very hard today. We drove over 550 miles today, so I am definitely tired and ready for a rest day.”

Toby Price: “The stage today went well. There was just so much sand and, starting where we did, it was brutal. It’s been a crazy first week, but we are still in the race. Last year we made it to this point and only did one more stage, so the goal is to get past that and keep getting experience. Next week will be as challenging as the first week, I’m sure, but I feel good physically and the car is going well, so we are happy.”

Dakar Rally – Provisional Stage 6 result*

Dakar Rally – Provisional standings after Stage 6*

*Correct at time of publication

ENDS