Toyota 1-2 at Dakar 2025 as Al Rajhi wins and Lategan takes second

The 2025 Dakar Rally not only brought victory for Toyota, but also a stunning second place overall for Toyota Gazoo Racing’s (TGR) Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (#211).

The works GR Hilux EVO crew led the race overall for nine stages, but eventually lost out to Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk in their Toyota Hilux by just 3 min 57 sec after two weeks of racing across the Saudi Arabian landscape.

For Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi, it was a dream come true to win the Dakar Rally on home soil – and the man from Riyadh now also leads the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) standings, as the Dakar Rally is Round 1 of this championship. With the Dakar Rally done and dusted, Al Rajhi is on 70 points in the W2RC, with his nearest rival Henk Lategan on 55 points. Toyota leads the W2RC manufacturer standings after the opening round, with a 34 points buffer to the team in second place.

Lategan and Cummings made no secret of their title aspirations when they won the Prologue for the Dakar Rally back in Bisha, before taking the overall lead of the event on stage two. They held onto the lead for eight straight stages, before briefly relinquishing it to Al Rajhi for one stage. The South African duo regained the lead on the next stage, but this put them at a disadvantage in terms of road position for the penultimate and deciding stage.

In the end, they settled for second place - giving Toyota a coveted 1-2 finish at the world’s toughest rally-raid event.

Californian Seth Quintero and his German co-driver Dennis Zenz (#204) were the next-fastest TGR crew on the final stage. The pair drove a steady race and overcame various challenges to bring their GR Hilux EVO home in 9th place, just 2h 20min 4sec behind the winners. Were it not for a tyre disaster in stage four, the young American may well have finished much higher up the order. Still, he leaves the Dakar Rally with a top 10 finish, two stage wins, and 28 points towards the W2RC.

Lucas Moraes and co-driver Armand Monleon (#203) started their Dakar 2025 campaign in fine form, pushing for the lead in the early stages of the rally. However, a technical problem with one of the dampers on their car cost the pair significant time during stage six and they were on the back foot from that point forward. A time penalty dropped them down the order and out of contention, but the Brazilian driver and his Spanish co-driver continued to fight for stage wins.

Their tenacity was rewarded when they not only bounced back to win stage seven of the rally, but then repeated the feat on the closing stage of the event. With two stage wins to their credit, they recorded a 15th place overall at the Dakar Rally and are on 18 points in the W2RC standings.

The final finishers for TGR were young South African Saood Variawa and his French co-driver, Francois Cazalet. Variawa became the youngest stage winner in the Ultimate Class when he won stage three of the event - but a collision in stage two, as well as a technical issue later in the event, cost him dearly. He was classified in 29th place – 9h 29 min 56 sec behind the leaders. Even so, he garnered 13 points towards his W2RC campaign and will be looking to improve on this at Round 2 of the championship.

Two TGR crews were unable to complete the 2025 Dakar Rally. The first to retire was the veteran duo of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz, who had to stop racing after stage six, when Von Zitzewitz developed extreme neck pain mid-stage. He was medically examined after the stage and deemed unfit to continue; bringing a first Dakar retirement for De Villiers in a career that has spanned 22 starts.

The second retirement was that of Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy, who had driven a steady race until stage nine. They had lost several hours earlier in the race due to a damper problem, but suffered a crash in stage nine that put an end to their rally.

Overall, Toyota won all but four stages of the 12-stage event, as well as the Prologue in Bisha. Toyota also occupied four spots in the overall top 10 at the finish, including first and second place. This was a power performance by the brand - underscoring the quality, durability and reliability for which the Toyota Hilux is famous. The team will continue to improve on the car; however this will form part of Toyota’s ethos of creating even better cars not only for motorsport, but also for its customers.

Competitor comments:

Henk Lategan: “It was a bittersweet race for us to come all of this way, do two weeks of racing over thousands of kilometres, late nights, early mornings - and then to miss out by four minutes. But to get onto the podium is fantastic. It’s our first podium and it’s a great achievement. It’s amazing what the team’s done and what we could manage with this race. I’m proud of what we did. We’ll keep trying, keep pushing this year; improve the car, improve ourselves, gain more experience and come back stronger next year.”

Seth Quintero: “I finally feel like I belong, which is the thing. After a year of winning here and there, but not being too consistent, to have this one super consistent race is fantastic. Some things that were out of the team’s hands and out of my hands cost us. The whole Toyota team did an amazing job the entire two weeks. I mean, we put in a lot of work the past couple of months and it paid off for sure. Repsol joined the team this year and it was massive for us. I mean, renewable fuel is the way of the future and it’s going to allow us to keep racing forever.”

Lucas Moraes: “Yeah, I mean, what can you say? We live and learn; we never lose, we always learn. That’s what we always said. And of course, the overall result was not the one we wanted. But (I’m) just happy to finish, especially with the stage win. We won the last stage when everybody was pushing. So it proves that we have the speed. It proves how good the car still is. And I hope we can come back stronger next year.”

Saood Variawa: “Yeah, it’s amazing. If I look back, last year was obviously the first year for us. This year was a lot tougher and I think the first week they [the organisers] wanted to break us. But the car was amazing. I’m really happy to finish my second Dakar on my second attempt.”

Glenn Crompton, Vice President: Marketing (Toyota SA Motors): “It’s an incredible experience. The team, the car - brilliant. The Toyota, which was built in South Africa, that was made by South African people, that was supported by South African brands, has delivered another successful Dakar. To be here, among the best of the best in the world in the toughest race - and to podium, lead the race and win stages with such a young team - it’s just incredible. I think everyone back in South Africa must be so proud of the team and the guys because they’re playing with the big boys here and they’re delivering. So, obviously the most important thing about this whole event is – it’s not a bakkie, it’s a Hilux. And what a Hilux! It’s a Hilux 1-2 at the Dakar.”

Dakar Rally 2025 – Stage 12 results

1.#203L. Moraes / A. Monleon (Toyota GAZOO Racing) 54min 14sec

2.#200N. Al-Attiyah / E. Boulanger (The Dacia Sandriders)+01:33

3.#211H. Lategan / B. Cummings(Toyota GAZOO Racing)+02:11

4.#226M. Ekström / E. Bergkvist(Ford M-Sport)+02:12

5.#242D. Schröder / H. Köhne(PS Laser Racing)+03:01

6.#310P. Spierings / J. van der Stelt (Team Rebellion & Spierings)+03:10

7.#300Y. Seaidan / M. Metge(Team BBR)+03:24

8.#216J. Yacopini / D. Oliveras(Overdrive Racing)+03:59

9.#227N. Roma / A. Haro (Ford M-Sport)+04:01

10.#222G. de Mevius / M. Baumel(X-Raid Mini JCW Team)+04:06

15.#204S. Quintero / D. Zenz(Toyota GAZOO Racing) +04:42

16.#218S. Variawa / F. Cazalet(Toyota GAZOO Racing)+04:43

Dakar Rally 2025 - Final Standings

1.#201Y. Al Rajhi / T. Gottscalk(Overdrive Racing) 52 hour 52min 15sec

2.#211H. Lategan / B. Cummings(Toyota GAZOO Racing) +03:57

3.#226M. Ekström / E. Bergkvist(Ford M-Sport)+20:21

4.#200N. Al-Attiyah / E. Boulanger (The Dacia Sandriders)+23:58

5.#228M. Guthrie / K. Walch(Ford M-Sport)+01:02:10

6.#209M. Serradori / L. Minaudier (Century Racing Factory Team)+01:12:04

7.#216J. Yacopini / D. Oliveras(Overdrive Racing)+01:57:47

8.#240J. Ferreira / F. Palmeirp(X-Raid Mini JCW Team)+02:15:57

9.#204S. Quintero / D. Zenz(Toyota GAZOO Racing) +02:20:04

10.#214B. Baragwanath / L. Cremer (Century Racing Factory Team)+02:59:26

15.#203L. Moraes / A. Monleon (Toyota GAZOO Racing) +05:23:30

29.#218S. Variawa / F. Cazalet(Toyota GAZOO Racing)+09:29:56

World Rally-Raid results after round one of five

1.Y. Al Rajhi Overdrive Racing70

2.H. Lategan Toyota GAZOO Racing55

3.N. Al-Attiyah The Dacia Sandriders 48

4.M. Ekström Ford M-Sport 44

5.M. Guthrie Ford M-Sport 28

6.S. Quintero Toyota GAZOO Racing28

7.M. Serradori Century Racing Factory team 25

8.J. Yacopini Overdrive Racing23

9.J. Ferreira X-Raid Mini JCW Team22

10.L. Moraes Toyota GAZOO Racing18

14.S. Variawa Toyota GAZOO Racing13

World Rally-Raid results after round one of five

1.Toyota GAZOO Racing147

2.Ford M-Sport113

3.The Dacia Sandriders95

Timings were correct at the time of publication. Full stage results can be found at www.dakar.com