The 38th Dakar has begun at Technopolis in Argentina, where a large number of spectators cheered. There are a total of 347 vehicles competing this year. 136 motorcycles, 45 quads, 111 cars, and 55 trucks. Starting today, they will run over 9,000 km across Argentina and Bolivia for 15 days.
As a warm up round on the first day, there was a short 11 km prologue stage. Although the white parched surface was relatively easy, drivers were taken by surprise when they encountered some large patches of water.
Everyone's eyes are on the Dakar this year, where we'll be seeing some champions from the FIA World Rally Championship compete for the very first time. Coming in as the winner of the prologue stage is Bernhard ten Brinke (#311 OVERDRIVE TOYOTA) who finished overall 7th last year.
The new generation Hilux is off to a very positive start. Bernhard was pleasantly surprised with his result. On the other hand, Giniel De Villiers (#301) of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa was more focused on avoiding risks, concentrating on getting a feeling for his machine in preparation for tomorrow. The short distance of the prologue wasn't long enough for us to observe any large gaps, so we should be in for an interesting rally.
Awaiting the competitors tomorrow - a 404 km liaison section from Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz, and a 258 km long high speed rollercoaster-like SS (Special Section) on undulating mountain paths.
#toyotadakar
