Century Racing’s Brian Baragwanath
The South Africans were the talk of the town during the 2023 Dakar Rally.
Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel won the race for the second time, competing in a GR DKR Hilux T1+ produced by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA). The team has reaped the rewards of years of research and development, and the result came to them this year, last year and in 2019.
The other TGRSA crews of Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy and Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings finished fourth and fifth, respectively, ensuring TGRSA has its name in the top five.
Another Toyota team, that of Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk, competing for Overdrive Racing, finished third overall in their SA-built Hilux T1+.
the other cars
Brian Baragwanath and co-driver Leonard Cremer of the Century Racing Factory team were eighth overall at the end of Stage 11, but dropped to 74th at the end of the race.
Having been just over three hours behind the race leaders at the start of Stage 12, they crossed the finish line more than 25 hours after Al-Attiyah/Baumel.
Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar finished 37th overall for the G Rally Team, while Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman were 61st for the South African Racing Can-Am team.
bikes
Michael Docherty was the highest placed South African in the bike category, having finished the race in 16th overall. He was more than 3 hours and 21 minutes off the overall winner’s time.
His HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing teammate Charan Moore finished 28th in just his second Dakar. What is more impressive, Moore competed in the toughest category of the Dakar, ‘Original by Motul’, and faced the race without the support of a technical team.
And, having briefly relinquished the ‘Original by Motul’ lead to Spain’s fierce rival Javi Vega, he took it back to claim his first ‘Original by Motul’ crown.
Privateer Stuart Gregory finished 61st, while South Africa’s Wonder Woman Kirsten Landman came home 71st.
Competing in his first Dakar, Stevan Wilken finished 74th for the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team.
