Dakar Podium Finish for Toyota
It was pure elation for the Imperial Toyota Dakar team when Giniel de Villiers and German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz drove onto the podium in Buenos Aires to accept their trophies for second place overall.
After more than 9,000 gruelling kilometres through the wastelands of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, the pair finished 35 minutes and 34 seconds behind Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini), who claimed his second overall victory on the event (his first being in 2011). Interesting to note are the similarities between this year’s route and that of 2011, as well as the result: De Villiers was also second that year, trailing Al-Attiyah by a margin of 49 minutes and 41 seconds.
A smiling De Villiers described this year’s race as a great one for the Imperial Toyota team. “We were right there, in the thick of the fight. Our Hilux ran without missing a beat, and we have shown everybody that we are more than capable of taking on the biggest names out there.”
Both Toyota Imperial Hilux bakkies completed the world’s toughest motor race. De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz brought the Toyota Imperial Hilux (#303) home just under an hour ahead of third placed driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini) from Poland.
After the race, Imperial Toyota Dakar team principal Glyn Hall said: “There were moments when we were within striking distance of the lead, but we had a couple of small hiccups along the way. While they weren’t serious, they stopped us from ever really challenging for the top spot.”
With that said, Toyota was in an extremely strong position for most of the race. Bad luck on stage nine – when dust swirled up by a low-passing helicopter blinded De Villiers and he hit a rock as a consequence – as well as difficulty in finding an elusive waypoint on stage 10, stunted their challenge.
Meanwhile the Saudi privateer Yazeed Al-Rahji, in an identical machine to those fielded by the South African Dakar Team, was running a strong race in third place, thereby helping De Villiers to split Al-Attiyah from the rest of the Mini armada.
Only an electronic problem halted the talented driver, who was clearly headed for a podium finish in his first ever Dakar. “We are very proud of what Yazeed achieved,” said Hall. “His experience in the World Rally Championship was a great help, and it was a pity to see him forced out just three stages from the end.”
For Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie (#327) in the second Toyota Imperial Hilux, Dakar 2015 had moments of extreme pleasure as well as moments of disappointment.
The pair showed exceptional pace throughout the race, but early on a broken suspension part cost them significant time. They also missed a waypoint during the event, costing the duo 40 minutes.
They were showed their pace and were on course to win the final stage – between Rosario and Buenos Aires – before it was halted by the organisers after just one waypoint because of flooding.
This meant that American Robby Gordon, who was leading at the time of the cancellation, was awarded the stage win, with Poulter/Howie posting a time just 25 seconds off his pace. The pair also lost time in stage 11 waiting for De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz to pass them so that they could back them up, should anything go wrong. As a result they finished in 16thposition overall.
“We had a good race, and learnt a lot this year,” said Poulter. “This isn’t a race you win on your debut and not in your second year either. It takes time to understand the workings of the Dakar, but I really feel we’ve grown a lot this year.”
For the Toyota Imperial South African Dakar Team, it was the third podium finish in four years: third in 2012, second in 2013, and now second again in 2015. In 2014 De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz missed out on the podium, but still brought their Hilux home in fourth place overall.
“For us Dakar 2015 was a fantastic experience. Another podium finish just serves to underscore how competitive we have been since entering this amazing race,” said Hall, the father of the Dakar Hilux vehicles. “All credit goes to the team that has worked tirelessly to develop, build and test these machines. Without them there would simply not have been such good results for the Toyota Imperial SA Dakar Team.”
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