Strong and strategic Dakar Rally Stage 8 for Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC

• Two DKR GR Hilux in the top four on Stage 8
• Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finish second and move into overall top three
• Seth Quintero and Andrew Short in fourth, Tobby Price and Armand Monleón 13^th

Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) finished on the podium on Monday’s Stage 8, the longest timed section of this year’s Dakar Rally.

The high-speed route around Wadi ad Dawasir included a 300-mile competitive section and took place mostly on dirt tracks and sand. It passed through spectacular landscapes, including dunes, canyons and dry riverbeds, challenging drivers and navigators alike.

Following their frustrating Sunday – when they led until a late damper problem – Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings were on the pace from the start, despite an early puncture. They took the lead around the midway point but could not build a significant gap.

With today’s finishing position determining the starting order for Tuesday’s marathon stage, strategy came into play. A strong result would likely see the No202 DKR GR Hilux lose time with the daunting navigational task of opening Stage 9. To minimise that risk, Lategan and Cummings stopped on the roadside to concede time, and they eventually finished second behind Saood Variawa and François Cazalet (Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa).

Despite that, they still closed the gap to leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandriders) to six minutes, with five stages, including more than 900 miles of competitive action, remaining.

Seth Quintero and Andrew Short overcame their relatively early starting position to run in the top six from the beginning and moved into top-three contention just before the midpoint. The No203 DKR GR Hilux narrowly missed a podium on its way to fourth, just eight seconds behind third-placed Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist (Ford Racing). Quintero and Short continued to recover time in the overall standings and are now 15^th.

Toby Price and Armand Monleón were the fourth vehicle on to the stage in their No204 DKR GR Hilux, making navigation harder with fewer tracks to follow. They recovered from a puncture to deliver another consistent performance on the way to a solid 13^th place, moving to 11^th overall, within five minutes of the top 10.

Team quotes

Henk Lategan: “We had a tricky day. At the start we were trying to push but the stage was very fast and there wasn’t much chance to make up time. We struggled with one of the waypoints early in the stage, like a lot of others, then we had a puncture soon after 100km. From there, we tried to manage our pace. It was difficult to gain time because the stage was high speed with a lot of straight-line driving. We decided to stop before the end of the stage and give away some time, so we are not opening tomorrow’s stage. Unfortunately, we didn’t concede enough time, and we were still second. We really wanted to be further back. We now have a big job to open the stage tomorrow, but we will push to not give away too much time.”

Seth Quintero: “It was another very good day for us, and we are slowly making our way back up the overall standings. Again, we started out front and finished out front. To be able to achieve that is not easy in a field of this calibre, so I am proud of Andrew and the whole TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC team. It’s a good result and it means we’ll start behind Henk and do what we can to help him. Overall, it’s been a very good couple of days since the rest day, and we’re excited to do the marathon.”

Toby Price: “We had a good stage, despite starting fourth. It could have been a little bit better because we lost a bit of time when we hit a rock and got an instant flat. The car looks a bit battered and bruised; sometimes you just can’t avoid it when you’re driving through vegetation, but it’s fine underneath. Overall, it went well today, and we are happy to still be here, running close to the top 10. We’re trying to stay consistent, and we’ll keep that up for the marathon.”

Dakar Rally – Provisional Stage 8 result*

Dakar Rally – Provisional standings after Stage 8*

*Correct at time of publication

ENDS