Toyota Gazoo Racing, involved in Rally Raid and Dakar, today opened a new, important chapter in its history by announcing two new crews, who starting from Dakar 2024 will represent the present and future of the Japanese brand in the category.
Seth Quintero and Lucas Moraes have been announced as new drivers for the team based in South Africa. These are two emerging drivers in the rally raid scene: Quintero, a 21-year-old American, will make his debut in the T1+ class at the wheel of the official Toyota GR DKR Hilux after showing exceptional skills in the Light Weight Prototypes category.
Quintero was signed by Toyota as a great promise and first stone to open the new course after the passage of Nasser Al-Attiyah with Prodrive as early as 2024, and then become one of the stars, together with Sébastien Loeb and Christina Gutierrez, when he joins Dacia.
Moraes, on the other hand, was the revelation of the last edition of the Dakar. The Brazilian, a 32-year-old rally driver, was the author of an unexpected podium in the 2023 edition in the car category, where he raced in a private Hilux. Moraes was beaten only by Al-Attiyah and Loeb, the latter doing well in coming back after a problem which, in fact, saw him sink in the general rankings since the first week.
With these two crews, Toyota has secured a highly prospective present, but above all a future. Perhaps the two will not be fighting to obtain a leading position in the 2024 general classification, but they could be serious candidates to win some stages, annoying Audi and BRX Prodrive.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Seth Quintero, Toyota Gazoo Racing
Toyota has also announced that it will announce the remaining names that will make up the official line up for the 2024 Dakar at the end of November. We will therefore have to wait just under three weeks to understand who the riders will be who will join the American and the Brazilian. Last year, alongside Al-Attiyah, there were Giniel De Villiers and Henk Lategan.
Andrea Carlucci, vice president of Toyota Motor Europe, said: “Looking back on our journey in the W2RC and Dakar, which began with a commitment to participate in the inaugural season of the W2RC, I can only be extremely proud. We started with a commitment to two years with just one registration and we could never have imagined the results we achieved.”
“Thanks to our GR DKR Hilux T1+, which proved to be extremely reliable and robust, together with the skill and experience of Nasser and Mathieu, we achieved a perfect set of results in the first two seasons of the W2RC: manufacturer, driver and and co-driver in both seasons.”
“We are now able to confirm TGR’s continued commitment to the FIA W2RC, starting with the 2024 Dakar Rally. Furthermore, we are working to achieve the objectives set by the Dakar Future 2026 project, but above all we will intensify our commitment by adding two new crews to the squad”.
In preparation for the Dakar, Seth Quintero and his co-driver Dennis Zenz will take part in the Dubai International Baja from 10 to 13 November to get familiar with the updated GR DKR Hilux T1+.
Lucas Moraes and his co-driver Armand Monleon will instead race at the Baja Qassim in Saudi Arabia from 23 to 25 November, again to become familiar with the updated Hilux which they will then find at their disposal at the 2024 edition of the Dakar.
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