Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) recorded a second successive victory after finishing first in the 2023 Dakar Rally.
Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Mathieu Baumel successfully defended their Dakar Titles when driving the GR DKR Hilux T1+ across the finish line on January 15, 2023.
The pair lost 5 minutes 41 seconds to the winner of the last stage, but it didn't matter as they sealed victory by 1 hour 20 minutes 49 seconds. The final stage of the Dakar 2023 will be a 136 km test starting from the bivouac at Al-Hofuf.
Participants must complete a 167 km tour before competing in Stage 14, which is then followed by a 100 km journey to the finish line in the coastal city of Dammam.
For Nasser, this year's title is his fifth win at the Dakar Rally, while Mathieu now has four wins. Both have won three times for Toyota by relying on the performance of the GR DKR Hilux T1+ which is strengthened by its durability and toughness on rough terrain.
The pair took the lead in Stage 3 and never relinquished that position until after 2 weeks of the race. Giniel de Villiers, who completed his twentieth consecutive Dakar Rally, ended the rally in 4th place in the overall standings.
The result brings his number of Top 5 finishes to 15, including one win in 2009. The South African racer has only finished outside the top 10 once and his appearance at the 2023 Dakar Rally demonstrates the toughness and tenacity of a veteran Dakar Rally racer.
Together with co-driver Dennis Murphy, Giniel finished the 45th Dakar Rally with a time difference of 2 hours 31 minutes 12 seconds.
The 2023 Dakar will long be remembered by Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings as a very different race for them.
The two of them climbed to 2nd place in the overall standings before dropping down due to several hurdles.
The pair displayed great pace throughout the rally and finished in 5th place, less than 5 minutes behind their fourth-placed teammate. TGR dominated the results of the 2023 Dakar Rally with 1st, 4th and 5th overall finishing positions.
The Toyota Hilux T1+, which competed privately at the hands of a young Brazilian, Lucas Moraes, added value to Toyota by finishing in third place overall.
This event was Lucas' first fight in the Dakar Rally, although he had experienced co-driver Timo Gottschalk.
In The 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship where the Dakar Rally was the series opener, Nasser and Mathieu totaled 85 points.
This result makes them trailing the leader of the standings by only two points after the first series of five race series.
Toyota is in 2nd place in the manufacturing standings by just one point from the competition leaders. The next race is the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which takes place during the last week of February.
