Toyota Imperial Team Place 2nd In 2013 Dakar

Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz, driving a South African-built Toyota Hilux 4×4 for the Toyota Imperial Team, placed second overall in the 2013 Dakar Rally, which ended in Santiago, Chile on Saturday afternoon. It was their second successive podium finish in an Imperial Toyota Hilux in the world’s longest motor race, after they placed third in Toyota Motorsport’s first attempt in 2012.

The Toyota Imperial Team won the T1.1 class for petrol-powered, 4×4 vehicles for the second year in succession. This is Giniel de Villiers’ fourth podium finish at the Dakar Rally, having previously won the event in 2009, finished second in 2011 and third in 2012.

De Villiers and German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz took second place overall after the 14th and final stage of the 2013 event. The South African / German duo completed the final stage in fourth position and, while they closed the gap on the victorious French pairing of Stephane Peterhansel and Jean Paul Cottret, they were ultimately 42 minutes 22 seconds adrift of the defending champions.

They were 46 minutes clear of third-placed Russians Leonid Novitskiy and Konstantin Zhiltsov. Saturday’s final stage of 128 km of fast tracks, between La Serena and Santiago, was won by Peterhansel’s Spanish team-mate Nani Roma and co-driver Michel Perin of France, in a Mini.

De Villiers, who was unable to win any of the 14 stages, but who also finished inside the top 10 in all but one of the Dakar’s stages, moved into second position after last week’s Sunday rest day (stage 8), and held his place for the last six legs of the gruelling cross-continental race.

Three other Toyota Hilux 4x4s, built by Kyalami-based Hallspeed for Toyota Motorsport, were among the 92 finishers out of the 153 cars that started the rally in Lima, Peru. Alvarez and Graue were classified 10th, the Australian / British duo of Geoffrey Olholm and Jonathan Aston were 11th and Poland’s Adam Malysz and Rafal Marton were 15th.

“This is a great result for Toyota Motorsport and the all-South African Toyota Imperial Team,” said team principal Glyn Hall. “It was achieved without any significant mechanical problem and it is testimony to the legendary toughness and reliability of South Africa’s best-selling bakkie.

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