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Issue #2:January 2, 2023
On January 1, the 2023 Dakar jumped into its full-scale competition schedule. The first stage of the rally took place on a 368km loop course starting at the Sea Camp near Yanbu. Both TLC Land Cruiser 300 cars kept a smooth and steady pace all the way to the later sections of the stage, but at the 306km mark, Akira Miura (Toyota Auto Body staff) and Laurent Lichtleuchter in car #246 encountered an unforeseen rollover. Luckily, there were no injuries, but the car rolled onto its side on rough terrain that looks like the bottom of a mortar.
Ronald Basso and Jean-Michel Polato in car #250 were nearby and rushed in an attempt to get the car back up and running for over one hour, but they eventually had to get back to the rally. They managed to finish the stage and came in at 135th place in the car category overall, and 1st in the production car category. By the time they got back to the Sea Camp bivouac, it was already around 11:30 in the evening.
Car #246 got back onto its feet with the help of a truck and started driving again, but even at 1:30 a.m. local time it still hadn’t arrived at the bivouac.