Variawa and Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa win Dakar stage 8

After a challenging start to the second week of competition, Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa notched up its first stage victory on this year’s Dakar Rally via Saood Variawa.

Victory at last

Having finished Sunday’s sixth stage in second place through João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, the 483 km loop to and from Wadi Ad Dawasir fell to reigning national Rally-Raid champions Variawa and French co-driver Francois Cazalet by three seconds from Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings.

With this, the #213 GR Hilux IMT Evo moves up from 15^th to 13^th in the overall rankings.

“Today was quite difficult, especially with the dust and traffic. But we managed to pick them off one by one and push hard towards the end,” Variawa said.

“Winning by three seconds shows how close it was, but I’m really happy. It’s our second stage win and the car was amazing”.

By comparison, the stage went the opposite way for the #240 Hilux of Ferreira and Palmeiro, who only managed the 17^th fastest time due a puncture early on.

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The Portuguese pair still moved up a place to 10^th overall.

“It was a long stage and we had an early puncture. After that, the pace was difficult because we were second on the road. But we’re alive and now it’s time to prepare for the second and last marathon,” Ferreira said.

Another tricky stage curtailed by punctures and navigation difficulties again hampered progress for Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena, who finished seven minutes 25 seconds behind Ferreira and Palmeiro in 18^th place.

The result still leaves the #213 Hilux in 17^th place overall, one hour 11 minutes and 11 seconds behind the overall leaders.

“It went really well until about halfway. Then we picked up a slow puncture and navigation got a bit tough towards the end. But it wasn’t a bad day in the car and we’re in a good position for tomorrow,” Botterill said.

Toyota 1-2

Behind the Toyota lock-out of the top two, Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergkvist retained their second overall placing with third on the stage, followed by teammates to Lategan and Cummings, Americans Seth Quintero and Andrew Short.

Despite finishing fifth on the stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Larquin still lead the way for the Dacia Sandriders by exactly four minutes from Ekstrom and Bergkvist.

Overall standings

Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Larquin
– Dacia Sandriders
– 32h 32′ 06”
Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist
– Ford Raptor
– 32h 36′ 06”
– + 00h 04′ 00″
Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings
– Toyota Hilux
– 32h 38′ 14″
– + 00h 06′ 08”
Nani Roma/Alex Haro
– Ford Raptor
– 32h 41′ 43”
– + 00h 09′ 37”
Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz
– Ford Raptor
– 32h 42′ 45”
-+ 00h 10′ 39″
Sébastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger
– Dacia Sandriders
– 32h 49′ 31′
– + 00h 17′ 25”
Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch
– Ford Raptor
– 32h 55′ 06”
– + 00h 23′ 00”
Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Minaudier
– Century CR7
– 32h 57′ 10”
– + 00h 25′ 04”
Lucas Moreas/Dennis Zenz
– Dacia Sandriders
– 33h 02′ 01”
– + 00h 29′ 55”
João Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro
– Toyota Hilux
– 33h 07′ 14″
– + 00h 35′ 08”