Dakar dominated by South African built Hilux Evos

Dakar is the world’s most demanding off-road race. And if you sell vehicles with an all-terrain marketing subtext, a Dakar win is invaluable.

Occupying the first few weeks of January each year, the Dakar rally raid has no other motorsport events rival. That gives it terrific branding power.

Despite South Africa’s Henk Lategan leading for much of the event, local knowledge proved supreme as Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi sealed a debut win on the last stage.

Dakar humbles all

True to the Dakar’s demanding nature, even legendary off-road racers and WRC drivers fell victim to the demanding Saudi terrain.

Last year’s Dakar winner and 1990/1992 WRC drivers’ champion, Carlos Sainz, had to retire after crashing, with his vehicle’s rollcage suffering structural damage. The winningest WRC driver of all time, nine-time world champion, Sebastien Loeb, also exited the event after a crash.

Al Rajhi’s win will be widely celebrated in Saudi Arabia, but the true hero was the Toyota’s GR DKR Hilux Evo he was piloting. Designed, engineered and built in Johannesburg, the Hilux Evo proves the calibre of South Africa’s custom vehicle engineering industry.

Building a legacy

From humble beginnings and very little budget, back in 2012, the South African developed Hilux Evo has become enormously successful. It finished third overall on debut in the 2012 event and has been a podium or overall win contender ever since, winning four overall titles.

Despite regulations often conspiring against the Hilux regarding air restrictors, the South African design and engineering team, led by visionary former rally driver, Glyn Hall, have effectively done with the Hilux Evo what Rassie Erasmus has with the Springboks.

The original Dakar specification Hilux V8 has become a 3.5-litre turbo, evolving with regulations, and is unquestionably the platform of choice for global off-road racing teams. It’s incredible for a South African vehicle to achieve such success against the vast resources of European teams.

The Land Cruiser connection

Powered by the V35A production Toyota engine, which powers the Land Cruiser 300 petrol models, the GR DKR Hilux Evo features a chromoly spaceframe chassis, engineered to survive severe abuse in the Saudi desert.

The iconic GR DKR Hilux Evo bodywork is formed by skilfully fabricating composite materials, illustrating the depth of skills available in the South African vehicle engineering supply chain.

Off-road racing vehicles are designed to be functional, but with the GR DKR Hilux Evo, there’s a sense of form following function, too. The GR DKR Hilux Evo looks purposefully terrific and remains recognisable as a Hilux, supporting the marketing osmosis for Toyota’s Dakar-edition Hilux double cabs.

The Dakar marketing directive

For Toyota, the success at Dakar has been of inestimable marketing value. Its all-terrain vehicles are enormously profitable, and winning at the Dakar entrenches the brand’s reputation for producing severe-duty off-roaders.

Despite the dominnnat 1-2 finish for Toyota in the overall rankings, there will be a touch of ponignancy. Giniel de Villiers, South Africa’s only overall Dakar champion and the driver that Glyn Hall built the Hilux around during the 2010s, raced his final event – and retired to safeguard his co-driver, who was suffering from a debilitating neck injury.

Winning the world’s most famous off-road racing event in January, creates unrivalled yearlong marketing momentum for Toyota’s all-terrain models like Hilux.

Motorsport aligned marketing can be almost impossible to prove – with the link between competition vehicles and models in a brand portfolio often being tenuous, at best. However, with Hilux and Dakar, Toyota has shown that South African ingenuity can shape significant real-world sales, too.