Dakar bug has bitten unlucky Henk Lategan

South African Cross Country racing champion Henk Lategan returned from this year’s Dakar Rally with two medical conditions.

The first – a lingering shoulder injury – a legacy of the crash that put Lategan, his navigator Brett Cummings and their Gazoo Racing Toyota Hilux out of the world’s toughest motorsport event in Stage 5 of the event. The second – a life-long, absolutely incurable addiction with the Dakar Rally.

Problem one is being addressed – Lategan underwent an operation earlier this week, to mend severely torn tendons and muscles in his shoulder. He will also have to miss the year’s opening Cross Country race, the Mpumalanga 400 event around Dullstroom on 26 and 27 March.

Lategan said the crash that put him out of this year’s Dakar Rally was not the biggest of his career, by a long shot.

“I was advised by the doctors that my injury will take a while to heal, and that bouncing around at high speeds in an off road race car should not form part of its therapy,” Lategan said on his way home after the operation this week.

He hopes to be back in a Gazoo Racing Toyota Hilux at the year’s second race, the Sugarbelt 400 around Eston in Kwa-Zulu Natal on 14 and 15 May.

“The Dakar crash was not as bad as it looks on photographs,” Lategan reflects. “It certainly rates among the five biggest in my career thus far, but it happened at a reasonably low speed. In fact, the salvage crew got the race car running again later, and drove it out of the stage. Of course, by that time I had been air-lifted to hospital, but without my injuries we would have been able to continue the race,” he added.

The Gazoo Racing Hilux was later fixed on the spot, and driven out of the stage. Sadly, by that time Lategan had been air-lifted to hospital.

Experts cannot help but wonder what would have transpired if Lategan and Cummings did not crash on that 456 km stage between the Saudi capital Riyadh and Al Qaisumah. The pair were placed fifth overall in the Dakar at the start of the racing section and had put in excellent performances in the preceding days, including a second place on Stage 3 and a third place on Stage 4.

“Once we found our feet, Brett and I decided that there are two ways to tackle the Dakar – as a cruising spectator, just hoping to finish, or as a real contender, going for top five places in the stages. Toyota and team boss Glyn Hall had given us a superb race car in the Gazoo Hilux, and I figured my job was to drive it as quickly as my capabilities allowed. The accident was just that – an accident, and could possibly have happened even if we were going slower, so I do not dwell on it,” he said.

He perked up when told that drivers like Carlos Saintz, Sebastian Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah have all crashed out of the Dakar over the years, while fighting for the top five places.

Lategan, the defending champion, will have to miss the opening round of this year’s South African Cross Country title chase while his shoulder heals. Picture: Nadia Jordaan

“This is the world’s toughest motorsport event, and it will always claim competitors,” Lategan observed The second affliction Lategan brought back from Saudi Arabia will not be that easy to cure. “I am hooked on the Dakar Rally – probably for life,” Henk said.

“I think going into the unknown is the whole spirit of the Dakar Rally. Just being there was a huge adventure, and I was determined in my first year just to learn and take in as much as I could, gathering information, hopefully to work with for following years. Then, things started coming together, and we realised we could set competitive stage times and actually race, which was a superb feeling.

“Even before leaving Saudi-Arabia, I was already planning and thinking about the Dakar Rally 2022. Between now and then, I have a South African championship title to defend for Toyota Gazoo Racing, and I shall work hard to stay fit over the next few weeks,” Lategan concluded.

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