TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) moved into second place overall on the Dakar Rally thanks to a true team effort after a frustrating end to the final marathon stage of this year’s edition.
The crews spent Tuesday night camping in tents after working on their vehicles, with outside assistance not permitted on the marathon stage. They awoke to another demanding day of competition on Stage 10, which took them to Bisha and included a 420 km timed section over fast, undulating dunes.
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings initially kept up their challenge for outright victory and moved into the top three soon after the midpoint of the stage. Overall standings took priority over stage honours, and despite tricky navigation, they were on the same pace as the leader until the final kilometres.
With less than 10 km to go, however, Lategan and Cummings ground to a halt due to a lack of fuel. Toby Price and Armand Monleón showed their team spirit to stop and tow the #202 DKR GR Hilux to the finish line, keeping it in the rally.
Despite those difficulties, Lategan and Cummings still finished seventh on Stage 10 and moved up to second place overall as other rivals lost time. They are now 12 minutes behind leaders Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin (Dacia Sandriders), with three stages, featuring 764 km of competitive action, remaining.
Price and Monleón had already lost time as the third car on the stage. They fared better than other early starters in the difficult conditions until conceding further ground by selflessly helping their team-mates. Their 41st place on the stage means the #204 DKR GR Hilux remains in the overall top 10, in ninth.
Seth Quintero and Andrew Short compromised their performance early in the stage to shadow Lategan and Cummings, ensuring they could assist in case of any misfortune. They then lost time due to a missed waypoint but recovered to finish 14th. The #203 DKR GR Hilux is now 13th overall, just nine minutes off the top 10.
Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier won the stage for Century Motorsport ahead of Al-Attiyah and Lurquin. Sébastien Loeb and Edouard Boulanger (Dacia Sandriders) completed the podium in third.
The battle for overall positions will continue on Thursday’s long Stage 10, which covers 883 km and includes a 346 km timed section. It takes crews north from Bisha to Al Henakiyah as the rally nears the finish line, in Yanbu on Saturday.
Henk Lategan: “I’m happy to put two really difficult days of the marathon stage behind us. Today was a full dune stage and we made a big push. The car was perfect. It looks battered but it’s a Hilux so it just keeps going. We struggled with some waypoints and dropped a little time, but it wasn’t too bad. Nasser caught up with us, so we were driving together most of the day. Then, close to the finish, we ran out of fuel. Luckily Toby was close behind to tow us in. Seth also followed us for most of the day in case we needed assistance. I am happy to have such good team-mates like that around me.”
Seth Quintero: “It was a decent day. We had a little mishap and lost about 15 minutes searching for a waypoint but aside from that it went well. I had to slow down during the second half of the stage to make sure we were okay on fuel. The car has been amazing and the whole team keeps pushing. We are climbing in the overall standings so we will keep fighting hard on the last days.”
Toby Price: “It wasn’t the greatest stage for us. We knew it was going to be difficult to open the stage, and it’s due to our podium yesterday, but it still wasn’t much fun. Then we played the team game at the end when Henk and Brett had their issue. I towed the boys back, but it didn’t cost too much time. There are still tree days to go and we’re in strong shape. The car is a bit bruised, but we are here in one piece, and I just want to stay in the top 10 all the way to the finish.”
Source: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC
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