After two consecutive second places, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel took home the victory at the Dakar, the first since the rally raid takes place in Saudi Arabia. For the Qatari driver of the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa team this is the fourth success of his career (2011 with Volkswagen, 2015 with MINI, 2019 with Toyota) which makes him the second most successful driver in the Auto class after the unrivaled Stéphane Peterhansel.
Thanks to the overall victory obtained yesterday, Al-Attiyah has reached Ari Vatanen, also with 4 overall successes in the Dakar. Once he reached the finish line, the party broke out for Nasser and Mathieu. A deserved victory, never questioned by anyone since the first stages. For them, a triumphal edition.
“Our people have been waiting since 2020, when the Dakar arrived in Saudi Arabia. Since then we had hit 2 second places, now I have won and the feeling is really beautiful. I am very happy”.
“The last victory was in 2019, now with the new T1 + regulation we are very happy. There were three strong teams who had a chance to win and we did a good job. Mathieu (Baumel, the navigator), me, the team … we did everything very well from the start. “
# 207 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota: Giniel De Villiers, Dennis Murphy, # 201 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota: Nasser Al-Attiyah, Matthieu Baumel
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Al-Attiyah wanted to thank the whole team, who have prepared a brand new Hilux for the past 12 months. A move that turned out to be a winner, because it allowed the Qatari to return to victory 3 years after the last, obtained in 2019 always at the wheel of an official Toyota Hilux.
“I want to thank everyone for the support they gave us. This victory was very important for me, because the race is in our region. That’s why I’m very happy. The team did a great job building the car in one year,” bring it here and win now. “
“It’s not an easy thing. We didn’t have any problems during the race, we were careful enough. The Hilux is a new car and now we know we have a car that can hold up, can do it. And now we’re going to play the world title on it. “.
Al-Attiyah has always been a very good driver at attacking rather than managing. Yet, in this edition, he has treasured the mistakes made in recent years and thus brought home success thanks to a meticulous and very precise management of the race.
“The pace was not easy to manage because we had to stay very focused. We were very slow and it was not easy for me. The last week, in particular, was complicated, because normally our race tactic involves a We always give our best, instead we checked every day. We had to keep an eye on our rivals’ race. It was an incredible victory. “
“From the beginning the main rival we had was Loeb. The fight would have been with him, but we were lucky and we managed to set good times from the start. Then we had the race under control until the rest day. . I won because I am the best. Baumel and I are a good team, we are strong. We did a good job and I am proud of my navigator. In a week, 10 days, we will think about the next appointment “, concluded the Toyota star .
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