Toyota South Africa took a few motoring journalists and me to Argentina to witness the opening stages of this epic rally. After many hours of airport hopping and near-plane-misses we made it to Buenos Aires where we would witness the podium start. This is where the drivers drive onto a large podium, get introduced to the crowd and are then sent on their way to the first stage. The atmosphere is amazing; the locals are passionate about motorsport and the Dakar even more so. Every driver, no matter his position is a celebrity and it was humbling to see this. We, the media, were even asked to pose for photographs with local rally fans – it must have been our Toyota SA-branded shirts which made us look like drivers.
The Dakar is a rather big event with teams from across the world all wanting to compete. Most of them don’t really want to win, they just want to finish, and even that is a hard task. The Dakar sees drivers and teams making their way across some of the harshest terrain on earth. The race starts in Buenos Aires, Argentina and winds its way up into Bolivia before making its way back down again to finish in the town of Rosario. At the time of writing this article the teams are making their way across the mountains in Bolivia, nearly 4 000 metres above sea level. This is a disadvantage for our naturally aspirated Toyota Hilux vehicles however, our boys, Giniel de Villiers, Leeroy Poulter and Yazeed Al Rajhi (from Saudi Arabia) are taking the fight to the Peugeot team.
Giniel suffered a few punctures and lost time on some of the stages. Yazeed was hit with a very bad stomach bug in the early stages and was even considering quitting. His navigator pushed him to continue and he seems to be regaining his strength. Leeroy reported that he is without issues and is in hot pursuit for the lead. The Gazoo Toyota Racing team is looking forward to return to lower altitudes where their V8 Hilux’s will come on song. Here’s hoping that they sing loudly.
The drivers and teams have been training very hard for this race. They need to be both mentally and physically fit in order to cope with the mammoth task ahead. The demand on a person’s willpower is immense, especially for the bikers. They normally travel alone and need to attend to breakdowns by themselves.
After witnessing a few stages while in Argentina, I can tell you, the Dakar is no easy task. Drivers have stages that span 550 kilometres and every kilometre demands all the driver’s and navigator’s skill. Many of our boys (not just from Toyota), are doing our country proud and - judging by the events that transpired on social media in the past few days - we can do with some good news. Do us proud boys!
