LUCAS/ARMAND HOLD STEADY AS DAKAR 2024 NEARS FINISH

• Tough Stage 10 for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s crews
• Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet fastest TGR crew on Stage 10
• Three TGR crews remain in Top 10
• Two stages to go in 2024 Dakar Rally

Dakar 2024 may be heading towards its conclusion, but the race seems to be far from over. Stage 10 of the twelve-stage race proved a tough one for many of the top crews, including TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s leading pairings. Even so, the team managed to retain its overall positions, and is well-placed for the final two stages, which will take the rally to the finish in the coastal Saudi Arabian town of Yanbu today Friday, January 19th.

The fastest TGR crew in the tenth stage, which started and finished at the bivouac near the tourist town of Alula, was rookie driver Saood Variawa, and his French co-driver, Francois Cazalet. The pair had been steadily improving their pace over the course of the event thus far, and their tenacity paid off when they set the 11th-fastest time on the 371km-long special stage. While they relinquished 13min 1sec to the leaders on the stage, they remain in 18th place overall, with just two stages to go in Saood’s first ever Dakar Rally.

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Saood and Francois were followed home by Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon, who set the 12th-best time on Stage 10. The Brazilian driver and his Spanish co-driver were just 1min 31sec slower than their teammates, but were left wondering what might have been, were it not for two punctures that forced them to slow their pace significantly. They also survived a scare when their car ground to a halt with a fuel pressure warning, but a quick reset of the system was all that was needed to get the GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U back on its way. The pair remain in third place overall, with a comfortable buffer of 25min to the car behind them. What’s more is that their finishing position on Stage 10 puts them behind the car in fourth place on Stage 11, which is an ideal position from which to monitor and control their pace.

Stage 10 brought disappointment for TGR’s Guy Botterill and co-driver, Brett Cummings. The pair were the pick of the TGR crews on the previous stage, but a navigational error early on Stage 10 cost them dearly. The pair lost nearly 20min to the leaders and recorded only the 19th-fastest time on the day. Despite this setback, they are still in 9th place overall, just 7min behind teammates Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy.

Giniel and Dennis were forced to slow down after two mid-stage punctures. The TGR crew were running an experimental setup on their rear dampers, but this made the GR DKR Hilux EVO all but undrivable. They may have suffered the punctures as a result of the car’s errant handling, and the best they could muster on the day was the 23rd-fastest time, 26min 56sec behind the stage winners. They remain in 8th place overall, with two stages to go.

TGR’s Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz made their intentions of winning stages after dropping out of contention early in the race clear. However, this ambition was dealt another blow on Stage 10, after a particularly hard landing following a steep drop-off that was not marked in the road book. The pair managed to retain control over their car, but both rear dampers were irreparably damaged in the landing, and they were forced to wait for assistance from the team’s technical truck. This dropped them out of contention on the stage, but they will re-enter the race for Stage 11, with the hope of securing valuable World Rally-Raid Championship points.

After their mishap, the pair had the presence of mind to warn the crews behind them of the danger, and most likely saved a number of crews from a similar fate. While the team is disappointed with their result on the day, one can applaud their camaraderie, which is clearly in the spirit of the Dakar Rally.

Stage 10 was won by Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winoq, driving a privately-entered version of the Toyota Hilux EVO, with Eugenio Amos and Paolo Ceci achieving 4th place on the stage in a similar machine. Romain Dumas and Max Delfino brought their Toyota Hilux home in 5th on Stage 10, while Juan Yacopini and Daniel Carreras were 7th. The final Toyota Hilux in the Stage 10 Top 10 was that of Guillaume de Mevius and Xavier Panseri.

Stage 11 follows next, and will take the crews from the bivouac at Alula to the coastal city of Yanbu via a stage totalling 529km. This includes a starting liaison of 6km, as well as a closing liaison of 103km. The terrain for Stage 11 is expected to consist mainly of dirt and stony tracks, which may cause more punctures for the crews. This is the penultimate stage of the rally, and the final long stage of the event, which will come to an end in Yabu on Friday.

DAKAR 2024 – STAGE 10 RESULTS

DAKAR 2024 – STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 10