Toyota HiLux finishes second and third at Dakar… Sainz and Peugeot win in swansong
The Toyota HiLux finished Dakar 2018 with a second and third in the car class… just behind the swansong of Carlos Sainz and Peugeot.
COULD BE A CHANGING of the guard with Peugeot and driver Carlos Sainz announcing this would be its final-ever Daka, Toyota HiLux took out the next two spots on the podium; its best result in the event’s 40-year history.
“Toyota GAZOO Racing SA drivers Nasser Al Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers finished second and third outright, with de Villiers victorious in the final stage at Cordoba,” Toyota said.
“Dakar 2018 was extremely tough,” Toyota GAZOO Racing SA driver, Al Attiyah said. “But we are very happy to finish in second place overall.
“Of course, we would have been happier with a win, but to have two of our three cars on the podium, is an amazing achievement, and we have every reason to be proud.”
In the modified petrol 4×4 vehicle category, the Toyota HiLux finished first and second. Privately entered HiLux vehicles finished eighth, ninth and tenth outright, giving Toyota five top-ten finishers.
But the Headline grabber goes to Carlos Sainz who’s had to retire early from his last three Dakar events winning this, the 40th Dakar and the final event for Peugeot and him. Peugeot has taken out the car class in the last three events.
The route ran for 8793 kilometres (4047km competitive) across dunes and rocks and mountain passes with the Peugeot 3008DKR Maxi winning seven of the 13 stages. The win was the seventh for Peugeot, the first of which came in 1987 in a 205 T16 Grand Raid when the Dakar really did run from Paris to Dakar… it was moved to South America for safety reasons in 2009.
Modified? Slighty underplaying it.
Since when could you get a mid engined hilux?
Ha ha, what has this got to do with a Hi Lux you can buy at a dealer. As I see it there’s no news because they were losers, the story should be about Peugeot, not wannabe runner-ups.
As representative of our road cars as V8 Supercars?