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Issue #10:January 10, 2023
The 2023 Dakar Rally had its rest day on January 9 in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. The bivouac near the city's airfield was blessed with fine weather for the first time in days, and mechanics at each of the teams’ tents were busy inspecting and servicing their vehicles in preparation for the second half of the rally.
TLC, who entered a Toyota Land Cruiser 300 rally car for the first time in this year's Dakar Rally, also began work when their two rally cars arrived one after the other after 8:30 pm on the previous night. After finishing up for the night just after midnight, work resumed at 8:00 a.m. the following morning and finished by around 8:00 p.m. Both cars were completely refreshed after replacement of the consumable parts scheduled for rest day and a careful inspection. The entire team is now focused on preparing for the second half of the rally, which is expected to include challenging stages in the desert in the southern part of the country, starting on January 10.
Upon finishing the first half of the rally, the cumulative rankings are as follows: Ronald Basso and Jean-Michel Polato in car #250 are in 98th place overall in the car category and 1st in the production car category, while Akira Miura and Laurent Lichtleuchter in car #246 are in 127th place overall and 2nd in their category. Other contenders in the production car category have already left the rally, and the team will be fighting at full strength in the second half, aiming for their first win with the Land Cruiser 300 and an unprecedented ten consecutive victories in the same category.
On the first day of the second half of the rally, the course will take teams from Riyadh to Haradh. They will head southeast from Riyadh and compete in another tough SS of 359km, where the route is planned to include valleys and wadis (dried-up riverbeds).
Kakutani (Team Manager): Thanks to the mechanics who have been working hard since last night, we were able to refresh our vehicles for the second half of the rally. We will continue to maintain our steady rhythm tomorrow and hope to see both cars reach the finish in Dammam.
Challoy (Chief Mechanic): It’s rest day today and we were able to perform some thorough maintenance. The mechanics are demonstrating outstanding teamwork, including the three Japanese mechanics who are also working very hard. We had a few accidents in the early stages, so I was concerned that we might run out of parts, but for the shock absorbers, we were able to overhaul and reuse them, and I think we’ll manage to get through.