Hailak represent! Badass Toyota Hilux ready to kick dust at its rivals at the 2022 Dakar Rally
CY Foong · Jan 10, 2022 04:45 PM
0
0
The 2022 Dakar Rally is ongoing as you’re reading this and as of yesterday (9-Jan 2022), leading the gruelling 4,000-km long 12-stage rally is Qatari rally legend, Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver, Mathieu Baumel in the GR DKR Hilux T1+, a specially modified Toyota Hilux for one of the toughest rallies in the world.
Toyota has been competing in the Dakar Rally since 2018 and the T1+ is a revised version of 2021’s V8-powered T1. Unlike last year, this year’s entry is powered by a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine (415 PS/650 Nm) from the all-new Land Cruiser 300.
Though it sports a smaller engine than last year, the Hilux T1+ still looks badass with bigger 37-inch wheels and a new single-shock suspension system with more travel. The latter is needed since drivers will be catching a lot of air amidst the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia while the former would address last year’s puncture issues.
This is the third time that the Middle East kingdom is hosting the world’s toughest rally with the event taking place between 1- and 14-January 2022. However, the Dakar Rally won’t be a standalone event unlike previous years as the cross-country rally is the first event in the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
Al-Attiyah/Baumel in the Red Bull-liveried No. 201 Hilux T1+
Toyota is taking part in the Dakar Rally under the Toyota Gazoo Racing team and is competing with four cars. Al-Attiyah and Baumel will also be competing in the other races in the W2RC with the Hilux T1+.
However, this season will be extra challenging for Al-Attiyah as he will not just be competing against Carlos Sainz Sr (a rally legend himself and father of current Ferrari F1 driver with the same name) and 14-times Dakar Rally and 2021’s champion, Stéphane Peterhansel, he’ll be competing against one of the most successful rally drivers ever, Sebastien Loeb.
Loeb's Prodrive Hunter shown
Unlike Sainz and Peterhansel who are only competing in the Dakar Rally, Loeb will be competing in the other 4 races of the inaugural W2RC season with Team Prodrive in the Prodrive Hunter, a rally raider that is dubbed the ‘Ferrari of the desert’.
So far going into Stage 7, it seems that the race for leadership position is tight. Though Al-Attiyah is still the overall leader, Loeb has been winning two of the stages including the last one, cutting the lead to under 45 minutes.
Toyota's first Dakar win and Al-Attiyah's third back in 2019
Al-Attiyah has won once with Toyota back in 2019 which was only the second year that the team competed in the Hilux. The subsequent competitions saw him finishing second and with just 5 stages remaining, can the first Arabian Dakar Rally champion take his second title with Toyota in 2022?
Traded advertising for a career that fits his passion for cars. Enjoys spotting cars during his free time and has a soft spot for Japanese Kei cars but drives a thirsty manual sedan.
