Solid Stage 10 for Toyota Gazoo racing at Dakar 2021

• A solid performance on Stage 10, which brought the 2021 Dakar Rally from Neom into the canyons of the Al Ula, saw Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel finish second behind the Toyota Hilux of privateer, Yazeed Al Rajhi. Nasser and Mathieu had a clean run and gained 49sec over the rally leader.
• The dust of slower competitors held Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro up in the early parts of the 342-kilometre stage. The South African Dakar veteran was sixth fastest on the stage and moved up to eighth in the overall standings.
• It was another good stage for Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy where they placed 14th on Stage 10. The pair had to overtake a number of slower competitors and dealt with dust throughout the stage. They are now in 23^rd position overall, going into the penultimate Stage 11 which stretches between Al Ula and Yanbu. The competitive section has been shortened from 511 kilometres to 464 kilometres due to water erosion on the final parts of the stage after heavy rains in the area.

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “It was another good day for Toyota today, with Yazeed Al Rajhi winning the stage and Nasser coming in second. We took a little bit of time off Stéphane Peterhansel, but not nearly enough, of course. Shameer and Dennis had a good day. Giniel and Alex got held up in the dust. Nasser and Mathieu drove a clean stage to stay with Stéphane. But I know Stéphane well, and I know that he’ll control the race now that he has a comfortable lead, so we shouldn’t get too hopeful that the results will change. Having said that, we have Hilux dominating many of the top positions with just two days to go.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah (No. 301): “Today was again not an easy day and we are frustrated that we couldn’t get more time from Stéphane Peterhansel. We tried to manage the stage and we came through without any problems. I’m happy to be here in Stage 10 and tomorrow’s stage looks quite long and different in terms of terrain. Everybody says it will be a difficult one, but we have to do our best because this may be our last chance to make a difference in the outcome of the race.”

Giniel de Villiers (No. 304): “Today was not too bad as we didn’t have any punctures. With that said, we did have to change one wheel, but that was due to a bubble in the sidewall and we did it in a decontrol, so it didn’t cost us any time. We did lose about a minute each on two occasions, having left the track and ending up in the camel grass. Yazeed Al Rajhi came past us there, so we had to fall back a bit in the dust. Other than that, we had a really nice and clean day and I’m happy with the result.”

 Shameer Variawa (No. 330): “We had another clean run today and it was a good day for us. We had to deal with a lot of dust having to overtake five or six slower competitors which always takes time. About 80% of the stage had rocks so you have to plan when to overtake. But we did okay, the car ran well and we came through without any problems.”

2021 Dakar Rally Stage 10 Results:

2^nd No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, +2min 04sec

6^th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +6min 12sec

14^th No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +11min 29sec

2021 Dakar Rally Overall Results After Stage 10:

2^nd No. 301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel, +17min 01sec

8^th No. 304 Giniel de Villiers/Alex Haro, +3hr 43min 28sec

23^rd No. 330 Shameer Variawa/Dennis Murphy, +8hr 4min 01sec

ENDS