Drama at DAKAR 2023 as TGR forges ahead; third stage win for Nasser

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel increased their overall lead in the 2023 Dakar Rally to more than an hour, after winning the sixth stage of the gruelling race despite starting as the first car on the road. The Qatari driver and his French co-driver are now 1hr 6min 50sec clear of their nearest rivals – teammates Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings.

Stage 6 of this year’s Dakar will long be remembered as a turning point in the race. Two of the Top 4 crews crashed heavily mid-stage, with one of them forced to withdraw due to an injury to the co-driver. The second crew managed to continue after assistance from their service truck, but tumbled well down the order. Unfortunately, Toyota Hilux privateer, Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz, also lost significant time due to a mechanical problem. 

With these three crews effectively removed from the equation, Nasser and Mathieu made the most of the opportunity to hammer home their advantage in the overall standings. Their time over the shortened sixth stage was 3hr 13min 12sec, putting them 3min 29sec clear of the car behind them, and 8min 52sec ahead of Henk and Brett, who completed the stage in third place. Both GR DKR Hilux T1+ crews reported largely clean runs, with their cars performing extremely well in the rough conditions. The only exception was a power steering problem for Nasser, within 10km of the finish. In a spirit of camaraderie, Henk and Brett also stopped briefly with Yazeed and Dirk, to assist them with a spare part, but this did not cost the TGR crew a significant amount of time. 

Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy had a challenging outing on Stage 6. The pair lost 36min 41sec over the 357km-long stage, though they ran much higher up the order for the bulk of the stage. A broken rear damper initially cost them time, but then they also damaged the front differential over a jump in the dunes. They were forced to switch to two-wheel-drive, but then a power steering problem added to their woes 40km from the finish. Even so, they managed to complete the day’s timed section and safely reached the new bivouac at Riyadh, 297km from the end of the stage. 

Despite Yazeed’s demise, four Toyota Hilux remain in the Top 5 of the rally, with Nasser and Henk at the sharp end of the field. Lucas Moraes and co-driver Timo Gottschalk are in third place, in their privately entered Toyota Hilux T1+, with Giniel and Brett in fourth. This is Moraes’ first Dakar Rally, and the Brazilian youngster has shown impressive pace and maturity. 

Dakar 2023’s route has been changed significantly due to adverse weather conditions and localised flooding near Al Duwadimi. As such, the caravan has skipped ahead to the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where it will remain until after the rest day. The competitors, however, will take on a modified Stage 7 next, which will see them cover a liaison of 288km back towards Al Duwadimi, before covering a stage of 333km. A liaison of 240km will bring them to a makeshift service park, where a two-hour service will be allowed, before parking the cars in a parc ferme at Al Dawadimi in preparation for Stage 8. 

The race still has eight tough stages to go, with the modified versions of Stages 7 and 8 to come before the Rest Day. The second week of Dakar 2023 will take the caravan into the southern part of Saudi Arabia, as well as the so-called Empty Quarter, before swinging back towards the north, for the finish in Dammam on January 15th. 

QUOTES:
Glyn Hall, TGR Dakar Team Principal: “A stunning day for both Nasser and Henk today! Nasser and Mathieu did a sterling job to win from first on the road; and Henk and Brett drove beautifully to go third-fastest on the stage. But more importantly, Nasser’s lead is now more than an hour, with Henk in second place. Giniel and Dennis is in fourth place overall, so TGR is well-placed at this point in the race.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: “Today was a big day for most of us on the Dakar. I’m happy to have finished the day without any problems, except for our power steering near the end. We heard a lot of things about some of the other competitors today, but so it goes on the Dakar. For us, we just must remain focussed on our own race, and our aim remains to bring all three our cars home on the podium.”

Giniel de Villiers: “A crazy, crazy day! It was one of those that really test your character, but despite all the challenges we faced, we managed to get the car to the finish, and eventually back to the bivouac. I’m happy to still be here, and still be in fourth place overall.”

Henk Lategan: “This was another tricky stage. Maybe not quite as hard on the body as the previous ones, but still very easy to make big mistakes. There were some very high-speed sections in the dunes, with big drops – very dangerous places. I’m glad to have gotten to the end of that stage, and now we have four Toyotas in the Top 5, which really shows how reliable the car is. It is seriously hard on the cars out there, but the GR DKR Hilux T1+ just takes it in its stride.”

DAKAR 2023: Stage 6 Results

DAKAR 2023: Standings after Stage 6