WORLD’S TOUGHEST RACE: SA team Toyota Gazoo Racing speaks on Stage 2 of the 2017 Dakar Rally. Image: AFP \/ Franck Fife
Argentina – South Africa’s Toyota Gazoo Racing speak on the high-speed action following Stage 2 of the 2017 Dakar Rally.
Average speeds at the Dakar rally usually ranges from 90-100km\/h but Stage 2 saw an average speed of 120km\/h! This is pretty fast considering the terrain.
The stage was won by Peugeot driver Sebastien Loeb , with day 1 winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) second.
Team principal, Glyn Hall, and driver Giniel de Villiers gave some insight into how the day’s events unfolded.
Working in soaring heat
Hall: \u00ab\u00a0It\u2019s 43\u00b0 here in Tucuman and both cars are in. No real problems today. The stage was really unexpectedly faster than we thought it was going to be, so it was a real Peugeot stage.
\u00ab\u00a0Nasser was 1min20 behind (Sebastien) Loeb (Peugeot), who was pushing very hard, and Giniel just 50sec behind Nasser – which I think was pretty good.
READ: Dakar 2017 – Toyota SA continues solid performance in Stage 2
\u00ab\u00a0And we got Nani (Roma) there, another minute behind Giniel and (Stefan) Peterhansel (Peugeot) – who is always a dark threat – 6min30 back. So, I think the big relief for me today is the fact that both cars are here. Especially Nasser\u2019s car after we had to do quite a lot of work on it last night. And everything\u2019s running well.
\u00ab\u00a0There\u2019s no real problems reported from either driver. It\u2019s a case of checking the cars and getting everybody into bed. I think it was 3.30am last night for the team and it was still 35\u00b0 at 12am. So it was incredibly hot. And 28\u00b0 this morning when we were just leaving the camp.
\u00ab\u00a0Really tough on the lads, but we\u2019ve got a great team and everybody seems happy. Nasser, I think, was a bit disappointed not to have won the stage when I saw him. But when he thought about it and how fast it was, it was definitely a Peugeot day and Loeb pushing to the limit. \u00a0\u00bb
READ: Dakar 2017 – Team Toyota SA wins opening stage
De Villiers: \u00ab\u00a0Very, very fast stage. Not really suited to us, for the Peugeot\u2019s definitely. The first 100km very bumpy – big ditches and quite dangerous, actually – and the second part was just very, very fast. So happy not to have lost more time than that to the Peugeot\u2019s. And it looks like we\u2019re going at a good speed, so we\u2019ll just have to see tomorrow what happens at the altitude, but so far so good. \u00a0\u00bb
A video posted by Wheels24 (@wheels24_sa) on Jan 3, 2017 at 6:36pm PST<\/p>\n

\n

\nSimilarity rank: 0\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 1.5<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n