#207 🇿🇦Giniel de Villiers & 🇿🇦Dennis Murphy

“A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO WIN”

The clean sheet continues for Giniel De Villiers with 18 consecutive appearances on the Dakar without a single retirement, which puts him two Dakars behind the record-holder Yoshimasa Sugawara in a truck (1989-2009). Despite this flattering statistic, his latest appearances have been disappointing. The main reason was that the tyres were too weak for him to win again. The South African is nevertheless a driver of metronomic consistency: he has only finished once outside the Top 10 (in 2007), 13 times in the Top 5 and 7 times on the podium. Last time out in Saudi Arabia, he had to be content with 8th place, notably behind two other Toyota Hilux drivers, Nasser Al Attiyah and Jakub Przygonski. But for 2022, the situation seems to have changed considerably. The South African native, like all the Toyota drivers, will benefit from the new FIA regulations allowing him to have 37-inch tyres: “a considerable difference…”. De Villiers has spent the entire year developing his new vehicle, taking advantage of the South African championship to put his Hilux through its paces. The results were more than positive and boosted the confidence of the soon to be 50-year-old driver who dreams of getting back to the joys of fighting for victory, thirteen years after his only triumph. The Dakar veteran has A new vehicle and a new co-driver. De Villiers won’t be setting off in a completely new environment as he will share the cockpit with Dennis Murphy, his navigator for the past five years in the South African championship, who last year helped Shameer Variawa finish 21st on the Dakar.

G.D.V.: “I grew up on a farm and raced everything I could get my hands on. It started when I was four with a pedal go-kart. My father loved motor racing, and he passed the passion on to me. Then I started on the track, especially in touring cars, before moving on to off-road.
I’ve had the joy of finishing on the Dakar podium several times, so the last edition was, of course, disappointing. I was somewhat reluctant to do it again. I knew that we had very little chance of winning. The situation with our tyres has been a big problem for the last two years. We were going too fast for our tyre technology. We were at a clear disadvantage. In the last edition alone, I had 24 punctures. On two stages, I had three punctures. I had to wait for another crew to help me out before I could get going (they only have three spare wheels in their vehicle). On these stages alone, I lost more than an hour waiting. Now the situation is different with our 37-inch tyres. It is the first time in many years that I am excited about doing the Dakar. I am going in with a real opportunity to win.
I have spent most of my year developing our new car, so I have been quite busy. At the start of a Dakar, a new car is never perfect, but I am still confident. I think differently, and we are very close to where we want to be. I know that we will still have many rivals. The main threat for me may come from the BRX drivers who have acquired experience, and I am weary of the Mini buggies.”