Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) is set to take on the 2023 Dakar Rally with a three-car team early in January. 

The defending champions, Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel, will return, together with newly crowned South African Rally-Raid champion Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy, as well as Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings.

This event will mark the start of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) 2023 season, with Al-Attiyah and Baumel again taking on the world’s toughest cross-country races. 

The remaining crews will compete the rest of the season in the South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC), which also serves as a key component in the ongoing testing and development of the GR DKR Hilux T1+. 

For the 2023 racing season, governing body FIA has refined its criteria, with the aim to balance the performance between the Class T1+ vehicles, and their counterparts in Class T1U (ultimate). 

The primary focus of the updated rules is to close up the field, making competition even tougher.  

For example, both the Class T1+ and T1U cars have had their peak power output reduced by 30 kW.

The power curves have been adjusted to blend the change proportionately and the altitude compensation for turbo powered T1+ cars has been removed.

At the same time, TGR has been constantly upgrading the GR DKR Hilux T1+. As such, improvements have been made to the car’s differentials, suspension parts and wishbones, which have been reinforced. 

The single damper setup has also been optimised, as has the transmission’s shifting characteristics. 

Finally, the software has been tweaked to accept the latest racing fuel and to ensure the car conforms to the balance of performance requirements as set out by the FIA.

Dakar 2023 is set to start on December 31 on the northwestern coast of Saudi Arabia, before traveling inland towards the city of Ha’il. 

From there, the route continues in a South-easterly direction, bisecting the feared Empty Quarter, before finally swinging northwards towards the finish at Dammam, on January 15.

“Dakar 2023 is around the corner, and we are excited to take on the world’s toughest automotive race with a three-car team in January,” says TGR Dakar and SARRC team principal and technical director Glyn Hall.

“We have worked hard at refining our GR DKR Hilux T1+ over the course of the year, and we are confident that we are well-prepared to take on the rigours of the race, as well as our competition.”