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The 33rd Dakar Rally takes place in Argentina, Chile and Peru in January next year.
Two South African-built and developed Toyota Hilux Double Cab pickups, under the management of team principal Glyn Hall, will compete in the legendary cross-country event over a distance of some 9 000 km over 14 days from 1 to 15 January.
The drivers of the two pickups will be South Africa's only Dakar Rally winner, Giniel de Villiers, who won the 2009 event in South America, and Duncan Vos, four times South African off-road champion.
De Villiers, a former South African touring car and off-road racing champion, will be paired with German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz, who navigated the 39-year-old Stellenbosch resident to his historic Dakar victory in 2009. The 42-year-old from Karlshof is a multiple former German motorcycle enduro champion and was rookie of the year on a KTM in the 1997 Dakar Rally.
He has competed in eight Dakars as a co-driver, the last four with De Villiers, who is a veteran of nine Dakar races. They were second in 2006, 11th in 2007, seventh in 2010 and second in 2011. There was no event in 2008 owing to security problems in some North African countries. The last three events have all been held in South America.
Reading the route notes for Vos will be his regular national championship co-driver Rob Howie. Vos, 50, and Howie, 38, are currently lying joint second in the Absa Off-Road Car Championship with two rounds remaining. They will be competing in their first Dakar Rally.
A third Hilux has been built by Toyota Motorsport for top Argentine driver Orlando Terranova. This vehicle, the first to be built by Toyota Motorsport for a private customer, was air-freighted to Europe this week. The other two cars, which are currently contesting the local championship in the hands of Vos and Anthony Taylor, will be flown to Argentina after the final round in November.
Hall, who will be managing an all-South African team with the exception of Von Zitzewitz, is under no illusions about the severity of the challenge.
"We've been there before and we know what to expect," he said. "It's a tough event with day-long stages each day and is a massive logistical challenge. We've assembled a great team and are privileged to have Giniel with us on this first Dakar with Toyota in the top class. He is one of the few people to have won the Dakar and is rated as one of the top Rally Raid drivers in the world. We're confident we can do South Africa proud."
The Dakar Rally will start in the Argentine seaside resort of Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast of South America and will finish almost 9 000 km later in the Peruvian capital Lima on the Pacific coast on 15 January.
In between will be five racing special stages in Argentina, a crossing of the Andes mountain range, five stages in Chile including a crossing of the Atacama Desert before a rest day on 8 January in the Chilean town of Copiapo. Then, for the first time, the rally enters Peru for four stages and a ceremonial finish.
