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South African racing enthusiasts who have been following TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s progress since their win in the Dakar Rally in January this year, will be over the moon to hear that a South African manufactured GR DKR Hilux T1+ has been crowned the winning manufacturer at the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) held in October in Andalusia, Spain.
This is the first time a car manufactured in South Africa has won a world championship. And if that could not get any better, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel, have scooped the overall win, bringing home the W2RC title.
Local manufacturer, Hallspeed, has been at the forefront of the racing industry since the middle 90’s, competing not only in SA, but all over the globe. The company has focused on growing its internal resources over the years from design capability; to fabrication; to in house machining with multiple CNC machinery to an engine development facility including 2 bench engine dyno cells, and much more. The company prides itself in end-to-end solutions and over the years have developed cost effective solutions to develop and race cars in South Africa, showcasing the potential of our local talent.
Glyn Hall, Team Principal comments, “This really is a stunning result not only for our drivers but for the 40+ Hallspeed employees who have worked so relentlessly on the car. Many of these have been with us for over 20 years offering amazing continuity and stability and the results clearly demonstrate this. The final stage in Andulisia was really tough for our drivers resulting in a nail biting 6 second difference, and the team having to settle for second place. It was nevertheless a fantastic result and we still managed to rack up enough points overall to win the W2RC title as a whole and bring the championship back to South Africa so to speak. We started the season with a win at the Dakar Rally, and managed to make the most of our opportunities throughout the season to win the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship title. The GR DKR Hilux T1+ has proven itself yet again, and we are extremely proud of everything we’ve achieved this year.”
In the Manufacturers’ Championship, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing secured 163 points, resulting in a winning margin of 28 points. To date the GR DKR Hilux T1+ has completed all four rounds of the 2022 W2RC without any technical problems, and the team will be aiming to build on this reliability during its final preparations for next year’s Dakar.
Anton Roux, Chairman of Motor Sport South Africa (MSA), says this is indeed a proud moment for South African sport and congratulated Hallspeed and Al-Attiyah and Baumel on their outstanding win. “It is not often that a South African manufactured car wins a world title in one of the toughest courses in the world. MSA will be in Bologna in December to salute and pay tribute to Glyn and his incredible team when they are placed on centre stage in the FIA celebrations on December 9, together with racing great Max Verstappen.”
