Toyota Gazoo Racing fully prepared for Dakar 2025

Toyota Gazoo Racing fully prepared for Dakar 2025

Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) will take on the upcoming Dakar Rally with a strong six-car team, combining the expertise and talent of both Toyota Gazoo Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA). Along with Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body (TLC) and Hino Team Sugawara, they are ready for the challenge of the one of motorsport’s most demanding contests.

Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR)

This year, the team’s approach has two distinct components. The TGR crew, representing Toyota Motor Europe, features rising stars Lucas Moraes with co-driver Armand Monleon, and Seth Quintero with co-driver Dennis Zenz. This youthful duo embodies TGR’s philosophy of nurturing young talent, providing them with unparalleled experience and opportunities to develop in the world of rally-raid competition.

Building on their success in the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), where Moraes and Quintero contributed to Toyota’s victory in the Manufacturer’s Championship, the team head to the Dakar with a determination to carry that momentum forward into the new year. As the opening round of the 2025 W2RC season, the Dakar Rally is critical to setting the tone for the championship and achieving a strong result vital for the team’s title aspirations.

The 2025 Dakar Rally also marks a strengthened partnership with Repsol, which remains a key TGR sponsor. This partnership reflects TGR’s dedication to sustainable innovation. Repsol demonstrates its expertise in renewable fuels playing an important role in Toyota’s multi-path technology strategy, towards future carbon neutrality in motorsports. The Repsol brand will be displayed on the TGR cars and team apparel, symbolising a shared vision for sustainable motorsport that drives forward the pursuit of renewable energy.

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA)

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) will field a four-car team, including Giniel de Villiers partnered with Dirk von Zitzewitz; Henk Lategan with co-driver Brett Cummings; Guy Botterill with co-driver Dennis Murphy; and Saood Variawa with co-driver Francois Cazalet.

Combining the TGR and TGRSA teams brings a six-car line-up and one of the most versatile and balanced teams to the 2025 Dakar Rally, featuring youthful energy and decades of experience in a single outfit.

Team quotes

Lucas Moraes: “I’m incredibly excited to take on the Dakar Rally again, especially as part of such a strong team. The GR DKR Hilux Evo is an incredible machine, and with its latest improvements I feel confident we have everything we need to compete at the highest level. It’s an honour to represent Toyota and to work with partners like Repsol as we drive towards a more sustainable future in motorsport.”

Seth Quintero: “Being part of Toyota Gazoo Racing for the 2025 Dakar is a dream come true. Every year, I learn and grow more as a driver, and the Dakar is the ultimate test. With Repsol onboard as a sponsor, it’s exciting to know that we’re contributing to something bigger than just racing – we’re pioneering renewable technologies and proving what’s possible with sustainable energy in motorsport.”

Andrea Carlucci, Team Principal: “The 2025 Dakar Rally will demonstrate Toyota Gazoo Racing’s commitment to excellence and innovation. With Repsol joining us as a key partner, we are taking significant strides towards a sustainable future. Our team this year is a blend of youth and experience, which we believe is essential for tackling the challenges of Dakar. The GR DKR Hilux Evo has been meticulously refined, and I’m confident that we are fielding one of the strongest line-ups in this year’s event.”

Team Land Cruiser Auto Body (TLC) and Hino Team Sugawara

Reinforcing the Toyota Gazoo Racing team’s efforts for the Dakar Rally 2025, Team Land Cruiser Auto Body (TLC) will be competing in FIA T2 Stock category with two rally vehicles based on the Land Cruiser 300 GR Sport. Hino Team Sugawara will be competing with one vehicle based on the Hino 600 Series.

2025 Dakar Rally

In January, the 2025 Dakar Rally is scheduled to follow a route across the varied landscapes of Saudi Arabia, taking crews through desert dunes, rocky trails and high-speed sections across vast open plains. The race will once again test the limits of endurance, navigation and vehicle performance as it unfolds over 14 gruelling stages, with challenges designed to push even the most experienced crews to their limits. As Round 1 of the 2025 W2RC season, a strong performance in Dakar will be instrumental in setting up Toyota Gazoo Racing for another successful championship campaign.

GR DKR Hilux Evo

All six crews will compete in the latest iteration of the race-proven GR DKR Hilux Evo. While staying true a trusted and reliable core design that has delivered multiple victories, the 2025 version has undergone meticulous refinements, further enhancing quality, durability, and reliability – values at the heart of Toyota’s approach. These upgrades are rooted in Toyota’s kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement, with each iteration building on past successes to create a vehicle that can withstand the toughest terrains.

Technical specifications

Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC achievements

Toyota Gazoo Racing were the winners of the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024. This year they again demonstrated their dominance in rally-raid racing with their third consecutive title since the championship’s inception in 2022. The success of the GR DKR Hilux Evo, combined with the expertise of TGR’s drivers, co-drivers, and engineers, underscores the team’s unwavering commitment to performance, durability, and reliability. TGR’s consistent achievements reflect their philosophy of continuous improvement, embodied in every race and every kilometre of the W2RC season.

Dakar Rally 2025 TGR team

TGR Official Website URL : https://toyotagazooracing.com/dakar/2025/

Dakar Rally 2025 TLC team

* Toyota Auto Body Employee

Dakar Rally 2025 Hino Team Sugawara

Team partners

Red Bull has established itself as the premiere supporter of extreme sports and athletes, and as such fits perfectly with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Dakar and W2RC efforts. The Austrian energy drink manufacturer has partnered with TGR over numerous years, and the involvement bore fruit when the team won a second Dakar title in January 2022, and a third in 2023.

Repsol supplies fuels to the Toyota Gazoo Racing team with 70% renewable content, using advanced biofuels with a reduction of the carbon footprint of at least 70%, compared to conventional gasoline. These renewable fuels have been designed and produced at the Repsol Technology Lab in Madrid from renewable waste material. Repsol has a long track-record of producing renewable fuels for both competition and transport, allowing the users to maintain the great performance of the conventional fuels and reducing emissions, at the same time.

All the lessons learned in motorsport allow Repsol to develop and offer high quality products to its end customers. Since 2023, Repsol has been supplying 100% renewable fuel at its service stations in Spain and Portugal, now at 600 stations here the clients can choose to refuel with renewable fuel developed on the basis of the experiences gained on the racetracks and in the desert during the Dakar.

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ENDS