10 de enero
First week of Dakar 2025: Lategan leads, Mitchel climbs to P2!
After five tough Dakar stages, the Eurol participants enjoy a well-deserved rest day. Both Toyota GAZOO Racing South Africa and Eurol Rallysport had successes and setbacks to report in the toughest rally in the world. Nevertheless, optimism prevails in both teams.
Toyota GAZOO Racing
The biggest success at the Toyota factory team, consisting of 4 duos, is the leading position of Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings in the car classification. Henk and Brett won the prologue and have not relinquished their leading position in the overall classification since the second stage.
Another highlight was the stage victory of Saood Variawa, who at 19 years old became the youngest Dakar winner in the Ultimate car category ever. Unfortunately, there were also setbacks. Saood Variawa and Giniel de Villiers came into contact with each other just before the finish of the second 48-hour chrono stage due to the heavy dust. Fortunately, no personal injuries, but a lot of delay. Guy Botterill also lost a lot of time in the second stage. None of the three drivers play a leading role in the overall standings anymore, but they can provide important support to Henk Lategan in the second Dakar week. This will be much needed because there have been many punctures due to rocks, and the team still awaits the notorious Empty Quarter, an extensive desert full of soft sand dunes that pose significant challenges.
Standings in the general car classification:
1. HENK LATEGAN, BRETT CUMMINGS 28:10:11 hours
2. Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk +10:17 min.
3. Mattias Ekström, Emil Bergkvist +20:54 min.
4. Nasser Al Attiyah, Edouard Boulanger +35:00 min.
16. GINIEL DE VILLIERS, DIRK VON ZITZEWITZ +3:32:17 hours
34. SAOOD VARIAWA, FRANCOIS CAZALET +8:22:21 hours
46. GUY DAVID BOTTERILL, DENNIS MURPHY +29:28:33 hours
Eurol Rallysport
Mitchel van den Brink and his crew from Eurol Rallysport had an excellent start by winning the prologue and the first stage. However, problems with the rear axle in the 48-hour chrono stage cost him a lot of time. He could only use three-wheel drive for most of the 947 kilometers instead of four. Nevertheless, despite navigation issues, Mitchel managed to climb from fourth place to second place in the overall standings in the fifth stage. This was partly due to problems and time loss for Zala and Loprais.
Mitchel's gap to the leaderboard leader Martin Macik is now almost two hours, but Mitchel remains determined for the title. The lead of Macik over Mitchel is significant, but the rally is far from over. With a lead of over 20 minutes on Loprais, Mitchel has a comfortable margin over the third-placed competitor in the overall standings, but the battle for the podium is far from decided.
Martin van den Brink stayed behind the leading group in the last stage and finished in seventh place. He fulfills his role as a fast assistant to Mitchel excellently and is now in a good fifth position in the standings.
Standings overall classification Trucks:
1. Martin Macik, Frantisek Tomasek - 31:10:49 hours
2. MITCHEL VAN DEN BRINK, MOISES TORRALLARDONA +1:56:33 hours
3. Ales Loprais, David Kripal +2:16:53 hours
4. Martin Soltys, Vlastimil Miksch +3:39:03 hours
5. MARTIN VAN DEN BRINK, BART VAN HEUN +3:59:15 hours