South Africans were the talk of the town during the 2023 Dakar Rally.
Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel won the race for a second consecutive time, racing a GR DKR Hilux T1+ produced by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA). The team has reaped the rewards of years of research and development, with the result coming their way this year, last year, and in 2019.
It is Al-Attiyah's fifth Dakar victory.
The other TGRSA crews of Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy and Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings finished fourth and fifth, respectively, ensuring that TGRSA has its name all over the top five.
Another Toyota crew, that of Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk, racing for Overdrive Racing, finished third overall in their SA-built Hilux T1+.
?? Winning! ??
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 15, 2023
?? @AlAttiyahN & @matthieubaumel ??#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/6zb9ELXR5t
The other cars
The Century Racing Factory team's Brian Baragwanath and co-driver Leonard Cremer were eighth overall at the end of Stage 11, but they dropped down the order to 74th at the race's end.
Having been a little over three hours behind the race leaders at the start of Stage 12, they crossed the finish line more than 25 hours after Al-Attiyah/Baumel.
Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar finished 37th overall for the G Rally Team, while Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman were 61st for the South African Racing Can-Am team.
Bikes
Michael Docherty was the highest-placed South African in the Bike category, having finished the race 16th overall. He was more 3hr 21min off the overall winner's time.
His HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing teammate Charan Moore finished 28th in just his second Dakar. More impressively, Moore competed in the Dakar's toughest class, 'Original by Motul', tackling the race without the support of a technical crew.
And, having briefly relinquished the 'Original by Motul' lead to fierce rival Javi Vega from Spain, he took it back to claim his first 'Original by Motul' crown.
Privateer Stuart Gregory finished in 61st place, while South Africa's wonder woman, Kirsten Landman, came home in 71st.
Competing in his first Dakar, Stevan Wilken finished 74th racing for the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team.