Toyota Leaves Its Mark on 2023 Dakar Rally

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing once again proved its superiority at the 2023 Dakar Rally. Having achieved success with all three cars, Toyota won the Dakar Rally for the second time in a row with the last winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel.

The rally, which started on 31 December 2022 on the northwest coast of Saudi Arabia, was completed on 15 January at the finish point in Dammam. Nasser Al-Attiyah, who brought the GR DKR Hilux T1+ race car to the finish line in the first place, kept his high performance and stability throughout the race and outperformed his closest competitor by 1 hour 20 minutes 49 seconds.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, who took his second consecutive victory with Toyota and his third victory with Toyota in total, added a new one to his successes with five Dakar Rally victories in his career.

Toyota once again proved its quality, durability and reliability with the Hilux, which it improves with each race. Nasser Al-Attiyah took the lead in Stage 1 with his GR DKR Hilux T2+ and never fell behind his opponents again.

Racing for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, Giniel de Villiers completed the 20th consecutive Dakar Rally and finished fourth in the overall classification. With these results, Giniel de Villiers increased the number of finishing in the top 5 to 15. Henk Lategan and his co-driver Brett Cummings, who raced the GR DKR Hilux T1+, finished fifth in the general classification. Thus, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing dominated the 2023 Dakar Rally and took place in the top 5 with its three cars.

“He took the podium in his first Dakar in his career”

Besides TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, there were also special participants competing with the Toyota Hilux T1+. Lucas Moraes, who participated in the Dakar Rally for the first time, managed to add a new one to Toyota's success story by taking the third place. Thus, four Toyota Hilux took place in the top 5 places in Dakar.

In Dakar, the opening race of the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship, Nasser Al-Attiyah has 85 points while Toyota GAZOO Racing has 65 points. The next race in the champion will be the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, which will be held in the last week of February.