Toyota Gazoo Racing bounce back with Dakar Stage 2 victory
- First place on Stage 2 for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, moving them up to second overall
- Sixth place for Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy, who move into fifth overall
- Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings now 10th overall
Monday’s second stage of the Dakar 2023 saw Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) bounce back after a tough opening test. Reigning champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel took the stage win by 14sec from Toyota Hilux privateer Erik van Loon, moving them into second place overall, trailing the leader by just 2min 12sec.
The stage was punctuated by many sharp rocks, which played havoc with many competitors. Al-Attiyah and Baumel showed their experience, adjusting their pace to match the rough terrain. They suffered only one puncture and drove a well-controlled stage to record their first stage win of Dakar 2023 in the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+.
At the same time, teammates Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy posted the sixth-fastest time of the day, trailing the winners by 13min 12sec after suffering two punctures. The crew were forced to slow their pace for the final 120 miles of the 267-mile stage, as they had no spare tyres left. Despite this, they reached the finish near the town of Alula safely and have moved up to fifth place in the overall classification.
The final TGR pairing of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings had a second tough day on the Dakar. They suffered two punctures early on, and another later in the stage. They limped towards the finish as they are allowed only two spare wheels, but were then helped out by another Toyota privateer, Lucas Moraes. With a new tyre fitted, the crew managed to reach the end, losing 32min 12sec on the day. Many other crews suffered even worse fates, and as a result the TGR crew are in 10th place overall after the opening two stages.
Stage 2 of this year’s Dakar will long be remembered for how it influenced the rally. Many of the top crews fell foul of the extremely rough terrain; the entire field will now be looking forward to the sandier stages to come. Next up is Stage 3, which takes the rally from Alula to the spectacular vistas around Hail. The route comprises 139 miles of liaison leading from the bivouac at Alula to the start of a 279-mile special stage and joining the stage to the bivouac at Hail.
Dakar 2023 consists of 14 stages and is scheduled to conclude in the city of Dammam on 15 January.
Team quotes
Glyn Hall, TGR Dakar Team Principal: “Nasser and Mathieu did a fantastic job today, over some of the toughest terrain we’ve seen on the Dakar in years. At the same time, Giniel and Dennis kept cool despite their two early punctures to bring the car home in sixth place – a stunning result for them. Henk and Brett unfortunately had one too many punctures, and lost time as a result. Even so, they’re into the top 10 and only 15 minutes from third, so overall a really good day for us.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah: “This was another tough day on the Dakar, and I’m sure a lot of competitors will have problems to deal with. There were plenty of rocks and some tricky navigation, but I’m really happy that we managed to win today.”
Giniel de Villiers: “This was not a great stage for us, unfortunately. We had a puncture quite early on, and since we carry only two spares, I had to take it a little easier over the many rocky sections. We also had to turn around quite a few times, to hunt for waypoints. But that’s how it is, and we’ll have to try again tomorrow.”
Henk Lategan: “We had a decent start, but I think we were going a bit too quickly across the rocks. We had two punctures really early on, maybe within 30km of the start. Then we knew we had to switch to survival mode, nursing the car towards the finish. But another puncture 60km from the finish cost us a mass of time.”
For results, times and standings and further information and assets, please visit www.TGR-DAM.com.
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