MOTORSPORT: Dakar drama for Holden ute

The Australian team that has entered a Holden ute in the marathon Dakar Rally has had a last-minute fire extinguisher drama before tonight’s start in Lima, Peru, on South America’s Pacific coast.

A post on the Facebook page of Victorian dairy farmer Steve Riley and co-driver Trevor Hanks’ team, Aussie Holden Ute-DAKAR 2019, says it “was actually touch and go” that the 6.0-litre VE SS ute (with Mitsubishi Pajero four-wheel-drive transfer case) eventually passed scrutineering.

“They had the wrong certification for the onboard firebomb,” the post says.

“This is deal-over sort of stuff, so they befriended a local competitor who gave them the bad news that they wouldn’t find the correct FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) firebomb in Peru, but in typical off-road fashion a mate of a mate of this competitor was able to source one for US$5300.

“Of course, he wanted cash and the team didn’t have a lazy US$5300 lying around.

“Thankfully the local competitor had a rather comatose US$60,000 lying around and was able to lend Steve the money. He deserves a medal!

“Five cars had firebomb issues and three won’t start as a result of them.

“The team stayed up all night and fitted the thing and they ultimately got through scrutineering.

“The only other technical thing that caused a problem were the FIA homologation papers for the [roll] cage which did not show one gusset, but they (the scrutineers) let that one go through.

“That llama they sacrificed did its job!

“Apart from the mozzie bites and a bit of Montezuma’s revenge thanks to the llama kebabs, the team is fighting fit notwithstanding an all-nighter to fit the new firebomb.

“In a bit of Leongatha (Riley’s home town) local colour, Steve bumped into his neighbour’s two sons in the street! (among tens of thousands taking in the pre-event excitement)”

This year’s 10-day Dakar over a 5000-kilometre loop of southern Peru, with 70 per cent of it sand dunes and much of it at high altitude, has 541 competitors (135 of them rookies) and 334 vehicles – 130 of them (including 30 utility terrain vehicles or side-by-sides) classified as cars (the rest are motorcycles, trucks and quads).

The first stage tonight, Australian time, is from Lima’s Magdalena beach to Pisco, a city founded in 1640. Competitors will cover 331km, but only 84km of it in competition.

The rest of the first week the competitive stages will be four and five times longer.

Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah – winner of the 2011 Dakar for Volkswagen, victor again in 2015 in a MINI and runner-up last year in a Toyota Hilux – is playing down his favouritism because of his reputation as the world’s best ‘dune surfer’, saying he and French navigator Matthieu Baumel “need to be really focused and not lose any time with the navigation”.

Having finally won the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its 20th try last year, without serious competition after the withdrawal of Porsche and Audi, Toyota is now determined to notch a first Dakar win with its South African-run team.

Its second Hilux 4WD entry is driven by South Africa’s 2009 winner Giniel de Villiers and his long-time German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz. They were third last year.

Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke, a stage winner last year, and his new French co-driver Xavier Panseri share the team’s third Hilux.

Toyota team manager Glyn Hall says: “We have a good car, good driver … this year we must achieve it.

“We have changed the cooling system because we had too much cooling last year.

“We worked a lot on the suspension and the shock absorbers, we made the car more comfortable for the drivers, because their seat was too high.

“We have an air restrictor 1mm narrower than in 2018, which implies 5 per cent less power, but we changed the characteristics of the engine slightly.”

Toyota’s main opposition is expected to come from the 2WD MINI buggies driven by ‘Monsieur Dakar’ Stephane Peterhansel, a 13-time winner (seven times in cars after six on bikes), two-time and defending victor Carlos Sainz and Cyril Depres.

But the man most determined to notch a maiden Dakar victory at his fourth try is nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, this time driving a privateer 2WD Peugeot DKR 3008 after the French factory’s pull-out following a hat-trick of wins.