Another set of solid results saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing consolidate their position at Dakar 2021. The team’s leading crew, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, finished second on the stage, trailing stage winner Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Hilux) by just 2min 04sec at the end. Al-Attiyah/Baumel also gained 49sec over rally leader Stéphane Peterhansel (MINI), but still trail by 17min 01sec in the overall standings, with two stages to go. Stage 10 brought the rally from Neom to the canyonlands of Al-Ula, with a timed section of 342 km and liaisons of 241km. https://youtu.be/i1DnIhTVEbc
Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro struggled in dust early in Stage 10, before finding themselves slightly off the ideal route and in thick camel grass. This cost them some time, but they re-joined the main track shortly after and managed to post the 6th-fastest time, 6min 12sec behind Al Rajhi. They suffered no punctures on the day – their first puncture-free stage of the event – though they had to change a wheel due to a bubble in one of the sidewalls. They managed this task during one of the decontrolled sections, so it didn’t cost them any time.
Stage 10 brought another clean run for Shameer Variawa and Dennis Murphy, whose only complaint was the thick dust kicked up by slower competitors, which hampered their progress somewhat. They also recorded a puncture-free day and finished 14th on the stage.
With ten stages behind them, Variawa/Murphy find themselves in 23rd place overall, 8hr 4min 01sec behind the leaders. De Villiers/Haro are up into 8th place, 3hr 43min 28sec behind Peterhansel.
“Toyota had another really good stage today,” said TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Team Principal, Glyn Hall, from the bivouac at Al-Ula. “Yazeed won the stage, with Nasser in second, so we couldn’t really ask for much more. But the reality is that we are still more than 17min behind Peterhansel, and though we’ll never give up the fight, the fact is that we are running out of stages. Tomorrow is the last big stage, so let’s see what Nasser and Mathieu can do. But we can certainly be proud of the number of Toyotas in the top positions even now.” https://youtu.be/CRO6y1j1rm0
The penultimate stage of Dakar 2021 will see the crews race from Al-Ula to the town of Yanbu, on a route that was shortened from 511km to 464km due to erosion in the final sections of the track after heavy rains in the area. The race is set to finish in Jeddah on Friday, January 15th.
Stage 10 Results
Pos | Crew | Team | Time | Variance | Penalty |
1 | AL RAJHI / VON ZITZEWITZ | OVERDRIVE TOYOTA | 03H 03’57” | ||
2 | AL-ATTIYAH / BAUMEL | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 03H 06’01” | +00H 02’04” | |
3 | PETERHANSEL/BOULANGER | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 03H 06’50” | +00H 02’53” | |
4 | SAINZ/ CRUZ | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 03H 08’09” | +00H 04’12” | |
5 | PRZYGONSKI/GOTTSCHALK | ORLEN TEAM/OVERDRIVE | 03H 09’03” | +00H 05’06” | |
6 | DE VILLIERS/HARO | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 03H 10’09” | +00H 06’12” | |
7 | VASILYEV/TSRYO | X-RAID TEAM | 03h 11’29” | +00H 07’32” | |
8 | SERRADORI/LURQUIN | SRT RACING | 03H 13’05” | +00H 09’08” | |
9 | BARAGWANATH/PERRY | CRNTURY RACING | 03H 13’33” | +00H 09’36” | |
10 | ROMA/WINOCQ | BAHRAIN RAID XTREME | 03H 14’34” | +00H 10’37” | |
13 | VARIAWA/MURPHY | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 03H 15’26” | +00H 11’29” |
Overall Result after Stage 10
Pos | Crew | Team | Time | Variance | Penalty |
1 | PETERHANSEL/BOULANGER | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 37H 33’06” | ||
2 | AL-ATTIYAH / BAUMEL | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 37H 50’07” | +00H 17’01” | |
3 | SAINZ/ CRUZ | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 38H 36’50” | +01H 03’44” | |
4 | PRZYGONSKI/GOTTSCHALK | ORLEN TEAM/OVERDRIVE | 39H 51’49” | +02H 18’43” | 00H 02’00” |
5 | ROMA/ WINOCQ | BAHRAIN RAID XTREME | 40H 23’28” | +02H 50’22” | |
6 | AL QASSIMI/PANSERI | ABU DHABI RACING | 40H 46’20” | +03H 13’14” | |
7 | VASILYEV/TSRYO | X-RAID TEAM | 40H 48’02” | 03H 14’56” | |
8 | DE VILLIERS / HARO | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 41H 16’34” | +03H 43’28” | 00H 21’00” |
9 | PROKOP/CHYTKA | BENZINA ORLEN TEAM | 41H 18’52” | +03H 45’46” | 00H 01’00” |
10 | LAVIEILLE/GARCIN | MD RALLYE SPORT | 42H 03’58” | +04H 30’52” | |
23 | VARIAWA/MURPHY | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 45H 37’07” | +08H 04’01” | 00H 02’00” |
34 | BARAGWANETH/PERRY | CENTURY RACING | 49H 57’11” | +12H 24’05” | 00H 23’00” |
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