Al-Attiyah and Baumel the stars at Dakar 2023
Toyota could not have wished for a better ending of a truly tough Dakar 2023, as it won overall and triumphed in two classes.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel’s GR Hilux DKR T1+ won its third Dakar. In an incredible bike race, KTM teammates and former winners Argentinian Kevin Benavides and Aussie Toby Price were tied in the overall lead at 33km into Sunday, January 15’s final stage.
Michael Docherty took the rookie bike win, while compatriot and teammate Charan Moore won the no-service Malle Moto Original bike class.
Al-Attiyah beat a hard and relentless chasing Sébastien Loeb’s Prodrive by an hour and 20 minutes, while Brazilian rookie Lucas Moraes finished in a sensational third.
Giniel de Villiers and Denis Murphy, and Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finished fourth and fifth among five SA-built Toyotas in the top 10. Red-Lined cars took a T1.1 class 1-2, and Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar won among the T3 SSV rookies.
Loeb won six stages. De Villiers boasts a finish in every one of the 21 Dakar races he entered – 19 were in the top 10.
Rally Raid car builder Red-Lined dominated the amateur class, as Daniel Schröder and Ryan Bland took the T1.1 win from Thomas Bell and Gerhard Schutte. All four Red-Lined cars that started the gruelling race finished in the class top five. Red-Lined Motorsport clearly succeeded in making its gentleman crews’ Dakar dreams come true.
Century Racing’s Brian Baragwanath and Cremer’s Factory CR6-T led the T1.2 4×2 class until their penultimate day crash.
South African GR Rally crew Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar drove a calm and consistent race to take T3 side by side rookie honours. T3 compatriots Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman’s HBE South Racing Can Am overcame its occasional challenges to come home a fine 12th overall.
Ever consistent Malle Moto hero Stuart Gregory ended a career best 61st and 10th in Malle Moto on his third Dakar finish. South African lady legend Kirsten Landman had a steady if occasionally exhausting ride to 68th overall and 12th in Malle Moto. SA Dakar rookie Stevan Wilken finished 69th off his best stage result in 56th on the final day, following a consistent race, bar a painful day 8 tumble.
Source: MotorsportMedia
