The 2023 Dakar Rally began with a literal bang, as lots of the high contenders in the rally suffered heavy crashes early on. In the general standings, the names of Peterhansel and Sainz are conspicuously absent – but in Class T3, South Africa’s Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar soldier on.
Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar Dakar journey
“The rally to date has been incredibly tough. Not only on the car, but also on us,” stated Basson from the Rest Day on the bivouac in Riyadh, on Monday January 9th. “The stages are tough, the liaisons are often long, and without a windscreen we often find ourselves exposed to the cold and rain, but we love every moment.”
The South African Class T1 champions have been campaigning a light-weight prototype in Class T3 of the rally, the place they’re up in opposition to some skilled and quick rivals, together with teammates Guillaume de Mevius and his co-driver Francois Cazalet. The Belgian driver and his French accomplice are at present main the category T3 battle, and serving as an inspiration to Basson and Pienaar.
“It is such an honour to be part of the G Rally Team, and to be driving an identical OT3 lightweight prototype to the one that is currently leading the class,” continued Basson. “Our teammates are superstars in this world, and we’re learning a lot from them every day.”
Basson and Pienaar discovered themselves in eighth place in the T3 standings after 5 levels, however then the rains got here down. So a lot so, in truth, that the bivouac at Al Dawudimi was flooded, forcing the organisers to reroute the rally to Riyadh as an alternative. They additionally switched some levels round, and got here up with a novel ‘remote service’ after Stage 7, which noticed the service crews work on the automobiles for a most of two hours at a distant location. The race crews then stayed over in a makeshift bivouac, earlier than racing again in direction of Riyadh for Stage 8 of the rally.
“It was quite a mess, in terms of the schedule. You plan things out in your mind ahead of each stage, but then suddenly it was all change. Even so, we got through all the changes without serious problems, and finally arrived safely in Riyadh for the Rest Day.”
The intrepid #TeamHilux crew accomplished Stage 8 in the 8th-fastest time, relinquishing 6min 8sec to the stage winners. This outcome, nevertheless, belied their true tempo as they spent many of the stage setting the second-fastest time, till a technical niggle close to the tip of the stage set them again by round 20 minutes.
“It was an amazing day, and a great way to end our first week at the Dakar Rally,” concluded Basson. “Leander has been doing a fantastic job, and we set ourselves a target of being in the Top 10 by the Rest Day. We’ve not only achieved this, but we find ourselves up in seventh place, which is simply amazing.”
The crew will face Saudi Arabia’s so-called Empty Quarter subsequent. This fearsome slice of desert has a repute as one of the vital desolate locations on the planet, punctuated by seas of dunes. Six levels stay in the race, earlier than Dakar 2023 concludes in the town of Dammam on January 15th.
Follow the Dakar journey on Facebook and Instagram @TeamHiluxRallyRaid.
Posted by MotorPress
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