THE DESERT RACER 4K29 4K29

This Issue includes a short piece from the desert race in Abu Dhabi, which is one of the seven emirates neighboring Saudi Arabia. The reveal of the 2018 Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Car. Starts with scenes from the Rennsport V.

After a lackluster Stage 4, which saw both Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Nasser Al Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel lose significant time, Toyota Gazoo Racing SA really needed a day of consolidation. That’s exactly what all three crews delivered on Stage 5 of Dakar 2018. The stage was yet another extremely tough one, and consisted of 268 km of special stage, with 666 km of liaison on top of that. To make matters even more interesting, 84% of the stage was run on soft dunes, similar to those that brought the team so much woe on Stage 4.


The drive of the day again belonged to Dutchman Bernhard ten Brinke, paired with French navigator Michel Périn. The pair not only recorded a perfectly clean stage, but also kept pace with the leading Peugeot of Stephane Peterhansel over terrain that was much more suited to the buggy. In the end Ten Brinke/Périn ended the stage with a deficit of only five minutes to the Peugeot.

Start. Stage1. Dakar 2018. Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Team. The short opener was won by Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah, with French navigator Mathieu Baumel beside him. The pair completed the stage in 21:51, beating teammates Bernhard ten Brinke (Netherlands) and navigator Michel Périn (France), in a mechanically identical Toyota Hilux by just 25 seconds.

Stage 2. At 267 km in length, Stage 2 comprised nothing but dunes – and a stern challenge for both the drivers and their navigators. Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Giniel de Villiers and navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz were the fastest of the Toyota Hilux crews, posting the fourth-fastest time on the day.

Stage 3, however, saw Al Attiyah starting in 7th place and the Qatari superstar quickly pounced. Together with Baumel, the pair attacked right from the start, pushing hard and making up time throughout the 296 km-long special stage. With that said, their blitzkrieg was hampered by two punctures, which cost them the best part of three minutes mid-stage.

Stage 4 of Dakar 2018 will long be remembered as one of the toughest stages ever served up by the world’s toughest automotive race. The 330 km-long stage started some 114 km from the bivouac at San Juan de Marcona, and was run mainly on soft dunes. For Toyota Gazoo Racing SA, the dunes quickly turned into torture.