MEDIA INFORMATION
47th Dakar Rally
January 3rd-17th, 2025
2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), round 1
OVERDRIVE RACING TOYOTAS MAKE A STRONG START ON THE PROLOGUE IN QUEST FOR GLORY AT THE 47TH DAKAR RALLY
BISHA (SAUDI ARABIA) – Friday, January 3: Overdrive Racing and Toyota Gazzo Racing made a strong start on the opening Prologue stage of the 47th Dakar Rally, near Bisha in Saudi Arabia, on Friday morning.
The first timed section of 28.92km does not count towards the general classification on the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) but a good result was important, nonetheless, for the nine Overdrive Racing-run crews and the two Japanese teams running with service and logistical support.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan has overcome a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the event last year and the South African topped the overall times with co-driver Brett Cummings.
“It wasn’t a perfect drive,” said Lategan. “We made a few mistakes here and there but it was a good stage. We had a good rhythm early on. Usually, I struggle to get going on short stages. I need about 20km to warm up, but we knew this was quite important for the road position on the first stage, so we pushed a bit. The terrain was really tricky. The pace is so high and there were a lot of narrow spots. It can take a wheel off or get a puncture. It’s a fine balance.”
Lithuania’s Rokas Baciuška, 26, is running a Hilux on the Dakar for the first time with Overdrive Racing and he and Spanish navigator Oriol Mena clocked the fourth quickest time to give them the opportunity of a favourable start position for the opening special stage on Saturday.
Rokas said: “We pushed hard but not all the way. We were only one second behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and have fourth position. This is a good start for us.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Spaniard Armand Monleón were classified in seventh, while Australia’s Toby Price and Briton Sam Sunderland made an impressive start to their first Dakar on four wheels. The two-time Dakar winners on motorbikes teamed up to set the 11th quickest time in their Overdrive Racing Toyota.
Price said: “It’s a different feeling this Dakar, for sure. I don’t know what to expect yet. I’ve done 10 on the bike but this feels completely new. It feels like my very first one again. It’s exciting. We will just take it step-by-step and enjoy the experience. Let’s go and have some fun.”
Moraes’s team-mates, Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, settled into 15th. Yazeed Al-Rajhi finished as the runner-up in last year’s W2RC and the Saudi began his title challenge with the 18th quickest time with Argentinean team-mate Juan Cruz Yacopini finishing 32nd.
Quintero said: “The Prologue went well for us and we are where we want to be. The first week is going to be tough but we are really looking forward to it.”
Al-Rajhi added: “The Prologue was a good start for us from second on the road. We do it well and don’t attack because we need a different strategy for this Dakar. It is a difficult first week. We will see what our start position will be with the new system.”
Estonian Urvo Männama has joined the full team for the first time with navigator Risto Lepik and was classified in 22nd with the Brazilian duo of Marcos Moraes and Maykel Justo stopping the clocks in 39th. Spaniard Isidre Esteve Pujol and navigator José-Maria Villalobos are running under the Repsol Toyota Rally Team banner and were 50th.
The Chinese Mintimes Yunxiang Rally crews of Guoyu Zhang/Yicheng Wang and Rong Zi/ Hongyu Pan were classified in 37th and 111th with full Overdrive Racing support.
Tomorrow (Saturday), teams will tackle the opening special stage of 413km that loops through the demanding deserts around the Bisha start camp. After a road section of 86km, the stage winds its way through the surrounding countryside before finishing back at the Bisha camp. The leading FIA car is due on stage at 09.25hrs (GMT+3).
For further information:
Jean-Marc Fortin (E-mail: jmf@overdriveracing.be), Overdrive S.A., rue de L’Enterprise 1, 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet, Belgium, Tel: + 32 475 762 391. www.overdriveracing.be, Facebook: Overdrive Racing, Twitter: @OverdriveToyota