On the evening of December 27, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics team started its journey to the 2023 Dakar Rally. Twelve team members took off from Vilnius airport Towards Istanbul, after a few hours' break there is a flight to the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Although Dakar Rally the start will be given on the last day of this year, the teams still have a lot of preparation tasks, the press release says.
Saying goodbye to the team members and fans remaining in Vilnius, the racer said that this moment is a kind of start of the Dakar marathon for him.
"After taking off from Vilnius, we move to the next phase of the Dakar, for which we have been preparing for the whole year," said B. Vanagas.
After arriving in Jeddah, Benedikta Hawk's team will have "homework".
"We will have a short time before the start of Dakar, during which we not only have to settle in, complete administrative and technical formalities, but most importantly, perform full-fledged Hilux tests, for which we did not have enough time and conditions in Lithuania," said B. Vanagas.
In the 2023 Dakar, Kuldar Sikas will sit in the driver's seat of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics team. The driver, who joined the team in June, is well known in Estonia, as he has more than a hundred classic rally starts to his credit. Although this will be the first Dakar for Kuldar Sik, the new duo has already covered at least several thousand sports kilometers and their first victory in the "Hungarian baja" race. The team's journey to Dakar is "Estonian" calm.
"I don't feel stressed at the moment. I think the biggest stress will come when we go to Saudi Arabia. My goal is very simple, to make as few mistakes as possible. Fewer mistakes means a better result," K. Sikas shared his thoughts.
Also this year, the team was joined by the new Toyota GR DKR Hilux, also known as Black Hawk VII. It's a sports car with a 3,5 liter twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, which is a much lighter and more efficient engine than the 8 liter naturally aspirated V5,0 that preceded it.
The Dakar Rally starts on December 31. The winner of the race will be announced on January 15. Athletes will have to cover a total of 8549 kilometers, of which 4706 km will be qualifying. By the way, for the first time the racers will compete in the so-called "Empty Quarter", one of the largest deserts in the world.
