Toyota Hilux teammates collide at Dakar Rally

Toyota Gazoo Hilux driver Giniel de Villiers had a head-on crash with teammate Saood Variawa in a freak accident at the Dakar Rally on Monday.

The cars collided in thick dust while looking for the correct route near the end of the Chrono marathon stage. The drivers and their navigators were uninjured, but their SA-built Hiluxes suffered major damage and lost time, which dropped them down the rankings.

It was a serious blow for De Villiers and navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz as they were in eighth place in the virtual overall rankings shortly before the crash. After salvaging parts from Variawa’s car, the veteran duo managed to complete the stage but lost 2hr 20 min 10 sec, falling to 36th overall in the ranking, with a deficit of 2hr 19 min 25 sec.

Variawa and navigator Francois Cazalet had to do major running repairs to their damaged car. The pair completed the stage 8hr 4 min 5sec behind the leaders, sending them tumbling down the order. The young driver, in only his second Dakar Rally, will be looking to gain experience over the coming days in addition to posting fast stage times and supporting his teammates.

“It was all going very well until 40km from the end. Then there were quite a few cars together, about 11 of us, and we all were sort of in a ‘dust train’. And then, unfortunately, some of the front guys lost the route,” said De Villiers, a veteran Dakar racer and former winner competing in his final event with Toyota.

“The navigation was quite tricky. I think Saood and Francois also struggled. They came back to find the right way, and we had a head-on collision in the dust. That’s really unfortunate. We managed to fix the car, took some parts from Saood’s car because his car is a bit more damaged than mine.”

A consolation for the Toyota Gazoo team was its driver, Henk Lategan, took the overall lead after placing fourth in the stage. He has a 4 min 45 sec lead in the overall standings ahead of local hero, Saudi Arabian Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Team Overdrive Hilux), and Qatari five-time Dakar winner Nasser al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider).

The 48-hour Chrono, in its second year as part of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, was the second stage of the event, with competitors starting from the bivouac near the town of Bisha on Sunday.

From there, the crews raced along a route of dunes, sandy tracks and rocky traverses until 5pm local time, when racing was suspended for the day, and the crews had to overnight in the nearest of six mini bivouacs.

At sunrise on Monday, racing resumed with cars, setting off at one-minute intervals. Depending on where the crews stopped overnight, they had about 350km to race before the end of the stage, with a short liaison back to Bisha.