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Issue #19:September 21, 2022
In Morocco on the African continent, from 21 September, TLC will be performing final development testing with the new generation rally car based on the Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT, aiming for a debut win in the production car category in the 2023 Dakar Rally.
This round of testing has two sections. The first half is an independent test in the southern area of Morocco, while the second half involves competing in the 2022 Rally of Morocco starting on 1 October, where the car’s performance will be measured in real-world rally conditions.
The test car being used incorporates the results from continued testing on the prototype car since last year. Over both sections of testing, the test car will run a total of approximately 4,500 km to confirm durability for the Dakar Rally. Settings that take into consideration the actual rally will also be refined here.
The 2022 Rally of Morocco, which will be the second half of the testing, starts in southwest Morocco and continues along the west coast, an area once used in the Paris Dakar. Participants will compete for a total of six days across five stages. From the second day of the rally, the planned competition stages (SS) are intense, and mainly consist of sand dunes and gravel with distances over 300 km.
TLC is entering the rally in the production car category with two cars. The rally will be a first for the Land Cruiser 300 Series (first time entering an FIA world cup cross-country series rally), and the evaluation drive will be performed in the same pairs as the 2022 Dakar Rally with Akira Miura (Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd.) and Laurent Lichtleuchter in car #1, and Ronald Basso and Jean-Michel Polato in car #2.
In addition, mechanic Isamu Ito who joined the team in April 2022 (Fukuoka Toyota Corporation) will be experiencing a full rally for the first time and refining his skills even further for his Dakar Rally debut.
Development testing and scenes from the rally will be published to the official TLC Instagram account, so please be sure to check the posts. The team would also greatly appreciate your messages of support in the comments section.
Outline for 2022 Rally of Morocco
| Schedule: | 1 October to 6 October |
| Distance: | 2,300 km (includes 1,500 km competition stages) |
| Start/Finish: | Agadir |
Teams for 2022 Rally of Morocco
Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT Dakar Rally specification car (test car) x 2 cars
| Team manager: | Yuji Kakutani (Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd.) |
| Car #1 Driver: | Akira Miura (Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd.) |
| Car #1 Navigator: | Laurent Lichtleuchter |
| Car #2 Driver: | Ronald Basso |
| Car #2 Navigator: | Jean-Michel Polato |
| Chief mechanic: | Philippe Challoy |
| Mechanics: | Pedro Ambrosio Jerome Duperret Lucas Beurois Yuta Nakatake (Fukuoka Toyota Corporation) Naoki Anami (Fukuoka Toyota Corporation) Isamu Ito (Fukuoka Toyota Corporation) |
| Truck staff: | Gilbert Dieudonne Laurent Sohier Jean Bouley |
| Coordinator: | Hiroyuki Okuchi Addi Messate |
| Head engineer for engine control: | Mel Diaz (ORECA) |
| Head engineers for tire development: | Two staff (TOYO TIRE Corporation) |