DAKAR T
he name “Dakar” has become synonymous with the world’s toughest automotive race, despite the gruelling two-week
event moving from Africa to South America in 2009. Now the franchise is expanding with the addition of two races to its calendar. Known as the Dakar Series, the
Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), owner of the Dakar Rally, has added the Merzouga Rally in Morocco, as well as
The first-ever Dakar Series: China
the China Rally to its line-up of events. The Merzouga Rally is open only to motorbikes and quads, while the China Rally caters for production vehicles and specialist buggies. In September 2017, Toyota Gazoo
Racing SA participated in the inaugural event. Set in inner Mongolia, on the southern edge of the mighty Gobi Desert, the event was staged in association with the FB Life Racing Festival – an annual motoring spectacle that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators.
Rally turned out to be a race with hair on its chest. The terrain in that part of the world consists mainly of dunes which stretch as far as the eye can see. Navigating to a single dot on the map is tricky in these conditions, to say the least, as the driver must continually negotiate his way around the dunes, playing havoc with the navigator’s bearings. Nevertheless, Giniel de Villiers and navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz found themselves in the lead after stage five of the seven-stage event, but fell foul to an embedded rock in the penultimate stage. This put paid to their efforts and ensured victory for the Chinese crew of Ma Hailong and co-driver Yao Bin.
DAKAR SERIES 2018: CHINA RALLY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101
