Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) is primed for another monumental campaign at the Dakar Rally, with four exceptionally capable crews preparing to take on the 2026 edition of the world’s most demanding motorsport event. This year’s rally, which runs from January 3 to 17, 2026, presents a route of formidable length and variety, nearly matching the record for special stage kilometres seen since the Dakar moved to Saudi Arabia. For 2026, TGRSA will field a quartet of proven competitors:• #211 — Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG) / Daniel Oliveras (ESP).• #213 — Saood Variawa (RSA) / Francois Cazalet (FRA).• #218 — Guy Botterill (RSA) / Oriol Mena (ESP).• #240 — João Ferreira (POR) / Filipe Palmeiro (POR).
All four crews will race the latest evolution of the GR Hilux IMT Evo — a machine refined relentlessly throughout 2025 to sharpen durability, handling, and outright performance. Confidence within the squad is high, bolstered by Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet’s victorious 2025 South African Rally-Raid Championship campaign, while Yacopini and Oliveras were also recently crowned as the FIA’s World Baja Cup champions after winning the Dubai International Baja. Both these championship wins underscore the depth of preparation across the team.
TGRSA team principal Shameer Variawa expressed confidence in the team’s readiness for the 2026 challenge: “The team has worked incredibly hard throughout 2025, both in competition and behind the scenes, to ensure we arrive at Dakar with a package capable of performing from day one. Our testing programme with the latest GR Hilux IMT Evo has been extensive, and we’ve refined every area we possibly can. Dakar is unlike anything else in motorsport, but I believe we’re going into this year’s race with a strong, united team and four highly capable crews.
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Competitors will face a fast-changing blend of terrain, yet they will also benefit from a more considered rhythm to the event:• Fewer bivouacs, meaning support teams remain fresher and better prepared for the daily servicing assault. • Two marathon stages, a first for the Saudi-based Dakar — one in each week of the rally. These require crews to stay overnight in isolated bivouacs with no external mechanical support, making mechanical sympathy and strategic decision-making crucial. • Intense stages offset by opportunities to regroup, particularly around the rest day in Riyadh on January 10, without the organisers striving for absolute symmetry in stage design.
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