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Issue #18:May 30, 2023
TLC has commenced full-scale activities for the 2024 Dakar Rally and will be conducting development tests for its rally car in Morocco from early June.
In the 2023 rally, TLC won its 10th consecutive victory in the production car category with a debut rally vehicle based on the Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT, showing the high potential of the Land Cruiser 300 series. Despite the victory, however, the two cars had to deal with some problems during the rally, with both facing a Day Retire*1, revealing some reliability issues in the context of the rally.
Immediately after the 2023 rally, TLC shared information about the issues with members involved in the development of the Land Cruiser 300 series, mainly with Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. (the team's parent body), as well as other related manufacturers, and discussions took place with rally vehicle development engineers based in France. By taking full advantage of the driving performance of the Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT, and focusing on developing a strong rally vehicle capable of hitting 10,000 km without sacrificing speed, an updated test vehicle will be completed and evaluated in Morocco on the African continent.
In addition, two new TLC members, Fumihiko Tanigami (Fukuoka Toyota Corporation) and Alex Cardoso, who joined TLC in April this year, will be participating in the June test to raise the team's abilities even higher to get them through what will be a grueling two weeks.
TLC aims to complete all stages in the 2024 rally and will continue to take on the challenge towards their 11th consecutive victory in the production car category.
Soon, TLC will be releasing a video on its official YouTube channel to introduce their initiatives as we move towards development testing in June, so be sure to check it out when it’s published! In addition, updates on the development tests will be shared on TLC's official social media channels. Stay tuned!
*1) Day Retire: In line with rally regulations, if a participant leaves a competition stage midway, they will incur penalty time, but will be allowed to compete again from the next day onward.