Giniel de Villiers tells Graham Scott – Autocar how Have you got the sand for the Dakar? It’s one of the most iconic sporting events in the world. It’s so locked into the public’s psyche that it doesn’t seem to matter that what was the Paris-Dakar is now the Dakar Rally – and it’s not […]
Dakar Rally sporting director Marc Coma has announced he has opted to leave the role following the conclusion of this year’s edition of the event after three years in the job.The Spaniard was a twelve-time competitor of the event in the bikes class, and has five victories to his name, including his final two attacks […]
MADRID – Spanish female off-road motorcyclist Laia Sanz has a resume few can match, having crossed the finish line in all eight of her participations in the Dakar Rally (a women’s record) and even placed among the elite riders in recent years. Sanz said Thursday in Madrid during a visit to the headquarters of Agencia […]
Carlos Sainz says his second Dakar rally victory could mark a successful end to his racing career as he assesses his options with Peugeot preparing to leave the event. In one of the highest rate of attritions seen at recent Dakar rally events, Sainz avoided any potential terminal trouble to remain in the hunt over the opening stages before […]
Spain’s Carlos Sainz took his second Dakar win and Peugeot’s swansong third win in a row, while Austrian Matthias Walkner won KTM’s 17th successive motorcycle race as the 2018 race came to an end in Argentina following a nerve wracking 120km final stage around Cordoba’s world rally roads. South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers took the […]
Rally legend Carlos Sainz has scored his second Dakar victory in the 2018 edition of the marathon. Two-time WRC champion Sainz had not finished any of the prior three Dakars he had contested as a Peugeot works driver, yet 2018 proved fourth time lucky for the Spaniard. Having survived a high-attrition opening leg in Peru, […]
South African duo Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte brought their locally built TreasuryOne Amarok home to victory in the rookie rankings of Dakar 2018 this afternoon. The Pretoria crew was ecstatic, albeit totally exhausted as they mounted the finishing ramp in Cordoba, Argentina in the incredible culmination of a five-year dream. Former track racer […]
Editor: Neil Perkins Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Team’s duo of Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, and Giniel de Villiers emerged relatively unscathed from a dramatic penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally between San Juan and Córdoba. They will head into the short final special stage in 2nd and 3rd places in the overall standings after Al-Attiyah […]
CÓRDOBA (ARGENTINA): South Racing Can-Am Team’s Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin will take a lead of 53min 28sec into the final special stage of the Dakar Rally after finishing second on the 13th timed test between San Juan and Córdoba in Argentina. Varela began the stage first on the road and continued his duel with […]
CORDOBA, ARGENTINA – If ever there was a stage on the Dakar that proved what a fickle mistress this event can be, then Stage 13 was it for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA. On the one hand, there was complete elation as Nasser Al Attiyah and navigator Mathieu Baumel won their second stage on the trot. […]
Friday may not have been the thirteenth of the month, but it was Dakar’s thirteenth day and it wreaked havoc with leading competitors across the board. Mr Dakar, Stephane Peterhansel crashed his Peugeot early in the day to tumble down the field from his second position; then Bernhard ten Brinke, who had hardly just inherited […]
South African duo Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte brought the TreasuryOne Motorsport Amarok home 30th as they moved up to 29th overall in the car race on Thursday’s 12th stage of Dakar 2018 from Chilecito to San Juan, Argentina. Significantly however, de Klerk and Schutte have provisionally moved into the lead of the rookie […]
SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA – Stage 12 saw Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Qatari driver, Nasser Al Attiyah, notch up his twelfth stage victory in the Dakar Rally. More importantly, this was his third win for 2018, and cements his third place in the general rankings. The winner of two previous Dakars, partnered on this event with […]
Dakar 2018’s twelfth and longest day turned out to be a car and truck stage only as the bike stage was canned due to adverse conditions on their route on Thursday. The car race between Chilecito to San Juan, Argentina however proved to be an intriguing one as the top ten continually changed position through […]
Dakar Rally organisers have cancelled Thursday’s 12th stage for both bikes and quads categories due to weather concerns.Due to run a distance of 723 km from Fiambala to San Juan, Thursday’s running was supposed to make up the second part of the marathon stage, where overnight assistance from teams is prohibited. However prevailing weather conditions had […]
Stephane Peterhansel has given up on taking a 14th Dakar Rally victory this year, conceding that Peugeot team-mate Carlos Sainz can’t be caught over the final three stages. Peterhansel looked set to add to his remarkable tally of Dakar wins at the end of the first week, sitting a comfortable 27 minutes clear of Sainz […]
South African Dakar rookies Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte had another positive day as Dakar trekked from Belén to Chilecito in Argentina as they brought their homegrown Ford V8-powered TreasuryOne Amarok home 29th among the cars on Monday to move up to 30th overall and second among the 5 rookie entries of the 17 […]
CHILECITO, ARGENTINA – It was a stunning stage victory for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Bernhard ten Brinke (Netherlands) and French navigator Michel Périn on Stage 11 of Dakar 2018. The pair powered their South African-built and developed Toyota Hilux to a stage win, 04:35 ahead of Peugeot’s Cyril Despres; and 04:40 ahead of rally leader […]
Dakar 2018 is entering the final straight and while there is still 1000km of racing still to come including an evil sting in the tail, it seems that the modern giants of the epic race through South America are set to extend their runs of success. None of them may have won on Wednesday’s eleventh […]
BELÉN (ARGENTINA): The South Racing Can-Am Team endured a dramatic 10th special stage on the Dakar Rally and a very difficult competitive section, held in punishing heat, between Salta and Belén in Argentina. Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin began the day with an overall SxS category lead of 1hr 34min 31sec, but dropped 12 minutes […]
They may have had their challenges over the past few days, but South African Dakar rookies Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte and the TreasuryOne Amarok enjoyed a positive Day 10 from Salta and Belén in Argentina on Tuesday to wind up 31st on the day as they moved up to a provisional 28th overall. […]
BELEN, ARGENTINA – It was a day of mixed results for Toyota Gazoo Racing, on Stage 10 of Dakar 2018. The stage consisted of 373 km of racing, split into two sections, with a massive 424 km liaison preceding the stage. It was a return to lower altitudes for the Dakar, but at the same […]
If it had not already delivered an incredible set of twists, turns and controversies so far, Dakar 2018 really showed its fangs on Tuesday to quite literally once again turn the race on its head. The drama started on Monday, when despite the day’s stage being cancelled, there was enough controversy to make world headlines […]
Matthias Walkner has become the favourite to win the 2018 Dakar Rally in the bike class after topping Stage 10, which saw Adrien van Beveren crash and four other contenders for overall victory get badly lost. While the day started with six riders within less than 10 minutes of the overall leader, Walkner now holds a […]
The quad rider involved in Carlos Sainz’s Dakar Rally controversy has threatened criminal action against the Peugeot driver. Dakar leader Sainz received a 10-minute penalty for what he saw as a near-miss with Kees Koolen’s quad on the La Paz-Uyuni stage. Koolen is adamant Sainz hit him and the penalty is too lenient. “I’m a […]
While Dakar 2018’s ninth racing stage to Salta was cancelled due to adverse weather and flooding in the Andes on Monday, the convoy crossed into Argentina to finally allow contact with the TreasuryOne team since they lost communication when the race left La Paz on Saturday. Family, friends and fans had been left in the […]
Carlos Sainz Sr. has hit out at the decision to penalise him ten minutes after stewards deemed that he had hit quad rider Kees Koolen during Saturday’s sixth stage of the Dakar Rally. The Spaniard insists no contact was made, and his avoiding action during the stage actually prevented a collision, but following an investigation, […]
TUPIZA, BOLIVIA – After two of the longest stages on Dakar 2018, all three Toyota Gazoo Racing SA crews arrived safely at the flooded bivouac outside the Bolivian town of Tupiza. With the technical crews setting up on the roadside, there was relief all round as the crews arrived one after the other. Bear in […]
TreasuryOne Motorsport duo, Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte bounced back from a most challenging Dakar 2018 Marathon Stage to move back up to 32nd position overall following a most positive run from Uyuni to Tupiza in the Bolivian Andes on Sunday. The duo was subjected to their toughest challenge of their first Dakar on […]
The Dakar Rally’s eighth day of 2017 produced some top drawer cross country racing as the various leaders in the car and bike categories spent the day fighting it out for stage honours on a run through the Bolivian Andes from Uyuni to Tupizia. The stage that ran at high altitude – between 3500 and […]
The SS of stage 9 of the #Dakar2018 is cancelled due to the weather conditions. “The situation is complicated on the bivouac and along the route of the special, there is a risk of flooding and thunderstorm”, Marc Coma says. “We’re going to lose a day, but the race has a good dynamics. We don’t […]
Stephane Peterhansel revealed he did not see the rock that has derailed his chances of claiming a fourteenth Dakar Rally victory, but he still remains upbeat and third overall, one hour, twenty minutes and forty-six seconds off of Peugeot Sport team-mate and new leader Carlos Sainz Sr. The Frenchman had been more than twenty-seven […]
“The marathon stages are always a nervous time – not just for us, but for everyone competing on the Dakar. Making it to the halfway mark without problems eases the pressure a little.” Glyn Hall, Team Principal: Toyota Gazoo Racing SA UYUNI, BOLIVIA – Stage 7 of Dakar 2018 served as the so-called Marathon Stage […]
Dakar 2018 was turned on its head on Saturday to bring a new look to the leaderboard as the race pulled into the Bolivian Andes town of Uyuni. Mr Dakar, as they call him, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel may have gone into the day’s stage with over an hour’s advantage over Peugeot teammate Carlos Sainz, but […]
Sainz takes the stage and the lead Carlos Sainz landed a double blow on the way to Uyuni, winning his second consecutive stage by a wide margin and capitalising on Stéphane Peterhansel’s troubles to move into the overall lead with a margin of 1 h 11. Peterhansel'[s hopes of another win disappears in the sand […]
LA PAZ (BOLIVIA): The South Racing Can-Am Team has overcome a mountain of hurdles and some of the toughest terrain that South America could throw at it to bring all three Maverick X3s safely to the Dakar Rally rest day in La Paz. There are still eight stages to run across Bolivia and north-western Argentina […]
2018 DAKAR PART TWO This is one event where you do not dare say that a specific person will or even worse “can not” win. I gave it a good thought during this week and asked myself the question – “what would you do, if you spent in the region of R4m (excluding the vehicle […]
South African Dakar rookie heroes Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte enjoyed their best day of the 2018 race as they powered the TreasuryOne Amarok to 26th on the day to move up to 32nd overall to consolidate their strong second among the rookies, just 12 minutes behind the leaders among Dakar’s debutants in what […]
LA PAZ: The Dakar Rally reached the lung-busting altitude of La Paz on Friday and was quickly caught up in violent street battles being fought between protesters and police in the tense Bolivian capital. Around 100 demonstrators clashed with police who used tear gas and pepper spray to quell the trouble which spread to a […]
Mads Ostberg will return to Citroen’s factory World Rally Championship team in a third car at Rally Sweden. Ostberg was a full-timer at Citroen WRT in 2014 and 2015 but has campaigned in M-Sport Fords in the seasons since, the latter as a privateer. He will line up in Sweden alongside Kris Meeke and Craig […]