Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers finish in top 10 of 2024 Dakar Rally

MANILA: Three Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) driver duos finished in the top 10 of the 2024 Dakar Rally held in Saudi Arabia.

Dakar rookie Guy Botterill represented the team well this season in the GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U. Despite having limited experience in big dunes, Botterill emerged as the top-performing rookie of the season.

Botterill and co-driver Brett Cummings finished the event with consistent stage results and placed sixth in the overall standings.

Veteran Dakar racer Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy also represented the team at the event. Unfortunately, De Villiers struggled due to navigational issues that caused him to lose significant time early in the competition. He also experienced punctures in the rocky stages and placed seventh overall.

“It’s obviously not really the way we wanted it, but we’re here; we finished. Thanks to the team, they did a great job… It was certainly a very tough one this year, but we’re very happy to be at the finish,” De Villiers stated.

De Villiers played a significant role in the development and testing of the latest version of the GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U.

Another TGR representative to the event was Lucas Moraes, who made a remarkable Dakar debut in 2023.

For this season, Moraes was teamed up with Armanc Monleon. The duo demonstrated remarkable speed and maturity throughout the competition, winning Stage 3 and climbing into second place on the final stage before the disaster. A series of unfortunate events caused them to lose a lot of time, dropping them two ninth place overall.

Aside from TGR, three other Hilux teams also took spots in the top 10. This demonstrated the outstanding quality, robustness, and reliability of the GR DKR EVO T1U.

Photos from Toyota Gazoo Racing

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