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The locally built and developed GR Hilux IMT Evo has been refined to handle the demands of the gruelling Dakar Rally. Picture: SUPPLIED
After a successful 2024 season in the SA Rally-Raid Championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing SA is set to compete in the Dakar Rally in January.
The team will field four crews in Saudi Arabia, each driving the locally built GR Hilux IMT Evo model, which secured the 2024 SA Rally-Raid Championship title with driver Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing line-up includes three returning driver-navigator pairs and one reconfigured crew. Leading the team are Lategan and Cummings in car No 211. They will aim to carry their momentum into the Dakar.
Also joining the team are Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy in car No 205. Botterill and Murphy showed consistent performance during the SA Rally-Raid Championship season and aim to make an impact at the Dakar Rally.
TGRSA sees the Dakar Rally as an opportunity to demonstrate Toyota’s engineering capabilities to a global audience. Picture: SUPPLIED
Saood Variawa, age 19, and co-driver Francois Cazalet, will return in car #218. After a promising season in the SARRC, Variawa is positioned to be one of the youngest competitors at Dakar 2025.
Completing the team is Dakar veteran Giniel de Villiers in car #206, reunited with former co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz. De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz won the Dakar together in 2009 in a Volkswagen.
The locally built and developed GR Hilux IMT Evo has been refined to handle the demands of the Dakar Rally after its strong performance in the 2024 SA Rally-Raid Championship season.
Audi’s Carlos Sainz won this year’s Dakar Rally, with Guillaume de Mevius second in a Toyota Prodrive Hilux. Botterill was the highest-placed GR Hilux driver in sixth overall, with De Villiers seventh.
One of the greatest challenges in motorsport, with competitors battling towering desert dunes and inhospitable terrain, the Dakar Rally moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020 and is now the flagship of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
MOTORSPORT
Toyota SA announces Dakar Rally line-up
After a successful 2024 season in the SA Rally-Raid Championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing SA is set to compete in the Dakar Rally in January.
The team will field four crews in Saudi Arabia, each driving the locally built GR Hilux IMT Evo model, which secured the 2024 SA Rally-Raid Championship title with driver Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing line-up includes three returning driver-navigator pairs and one reconfigured crew. Leading the team are Lategan and Cummings in car No 211. They will aim to carry their momentum into the Dakar.
Also joining the team are Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy in car No 205. Botterill and Murphy showed consistent performance during the SA Rally-Raid Championship season and aim to make an impact at the Dakar Rally.
Saood Variawa, age 19, and co-driver Francois Cazalet, will return in car #218. After a promising season in the SARRC, Variawa is positioned to be one of the youngest competitors at Dakar 2025.
Completing the team is Dakar veteran Giniel de Villiers in car #206, reunited with former co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz. De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz won the Dakar together in 2009 in a Volkswagen.
The locally built and developed GR Hilux IMT Evo has been refined to handle the demands of the Dakar Rally after its strong performance in the 2024 SA Rally-Raid Championship season.
Audi’s Carlos Sainz won this year’s Dakar Rally, with Guillaume de Mevius second in a Toyota Prodrive Hilux. Botterill was the highest-placed GR Hilux driver in sixth overall, with De Villiers seventh.
One of the greatest challenges in motorsport, with competitors battling towering desert dunes and inhospitable terrain, the Dakar Rally moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020 and is now the flagship of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
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