Next year’s FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC 2023) will soon launch in style with the season’s headlining event, the Dakar Rally. Toyota Gazoo Racing is primed to take on this challenge, widely regarded as the world’s toughest cross-country race, with a three-car team.
Reigning champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel will return to lead the way for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the improved GR DKR Hilux T1+. They will race in car #200.
Car #200: driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) and co-driver Mathieu Baumel (France)
The duo will be joined by newly crowned South African Rally-Raid champion Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy (car #205), as well as fellow countrymen and championship runners-up Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (car #217).
Car #205: driver Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) and co-driver Dennis Murphy (South Africa)Car #217: driver Henk Lategan (South Africa) and co-driver Brett Cummings (South Africa)
Of the three pairs, only Al-Attiyah and Baumel will compete in all five rounds of the W2RC 2023. The two other crews will compete the rest of the season in the South African Rally-Raid Championship.
What’s changed for the W2RC 2023 season?
For the 2023 season, the FIA has adjusted the regulations to create greater rivalry between T1+ category four-wheel drive vehicles and their counterparts in the highest T1U category. The primary focus of the updated rules is to reduce the performance differential and close up the field, making competition even tougher. Cars in both categories have had their peak power output reduced by 40bhp. The power curves have also been adjusted to blend the change proportionately, while altitude compensation for turbocharged T1+ cars has been removed.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has made further improvements to the existing GR DKR Hilux T1+ based on more than 130 days and 25,000km of racing and testing during 2022. Changes have been made to the Hilux’s differentials, suspension parts and wishbones, which have been reinforced. The single damper suspension set-up on each corner has been modified, as has the transmission’s shift characteristics. Finally, the ECU…
Read Full Article Source
