De Villiers, Al-Attiyah leads Toyota Gazoo Racing at 2023 Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally gets under way on New Year's Day with Toyota Gazoo Racing Dakar Team looking to defend their crown.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah and French co-driver, Mathieu Baumel brought the mighty GR DKR Hilux T1+ home in first place at the end of the 2022 edition of the race. This was Nasser and Mathieu's second victory for the team, and they will be aiming for a repeat performance early in the new year.

Toyota Gazoo Dakar Team has assembled its three GR DKR Hilux T1+ race cars at the Sea Camp, north of the Saudi Arabian town of Yanbu.

Dakar 2023 promises to be one of the toughest yet, consisting of 14 stages rather than the dozen that has become the norm over the last few editions of the race.  

"The Dakar Rally really is the big one! We've had a great year, winning the first ever W2RC title. But we'd love to add another Dakar victory to the list, and we are sure that the car is good enough to bring us that win," said Al-Attiyah.

South African Giniel de Villiers has one of the best Dakar records in history, having competed in 20 Dakar's to date. He won the race in 2009, and has been on the podium seven additional times.

De Villiers has only finished outside the Top 10 once in 20 races, and will be aiming for another solid result, again with fellow countryman co-driver Dennis Murphy beside him.

For the South African pairing of Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings, their first two Dakar Rallies together proved learning experiences.

In their first outing, in 2021, the pair crashed heavily during Stage 5 of the rally, resulting in a broken collarbone for Lategan.

In 2022, they bounced back, driving at a more manageable pace that saw them take two stage victories, though their 31st place finish belied the pace of the young