Toyota had one goal for the Dakar: win. They did it.

Before the start of this year’s Dakar, an event taking place wholly within the borders of Peru and nowhere near its namesake, Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa team manager Glyn Hall said they needed to capitalize on the opportunity to claim Win #1 for the Japanese brand. Over the last couple of years, Toyota finished behind the dominant Peugeot brand. “This year we must achieve it,” said Hall.

And achieve it they did. Lead driver Nasser Al-Attiyah led the general classification on each day of the rally except for the second. That day, his Toyota teammate Giniel de Villiers headed the rankings instead, before being scuppered out of contention by a rock incident on the following day.

On Thursday, Al-Attiyah completed the final 112km leg between Pisco and Lima to win by 46 minutes and 42 seconds over his nearest rival Nani Roma.

Elsewhere, Sebastien Loeb was fast – as he always is at Dakar – but a myriad of problems kept him winless after what is now a quartet of dramatic attempts.

Competition in the gonzo Side-by-Side class was entertaining. Can-Am repeated as the SxS category champion, with Can-Am pilot Francisco “Chaleco” Lopez Contardo winning the event in a Maverick X3. The trio of Monster Energy Can-Am South Racing teams finished second, third, and fourth, helping the brand earn a podium sweep.

In bikes, three years after becoming the first Australian winner of the Dakar, Toby Price triumphed again. This time, the challenge was infinitely more difficult as he fought against the increasing pain caused by a scaphoid injury that was not quite healed before taking off for the start of Dakar on his Red Bull KTM bike.

“It’s very crazy to sit here and say that we won the Dakar rally with no stage victories until today. It’s really crazy. I’m over the moon,” said Price.” It’s been a long 10 days. Now I’ll just wait and see what damage I’ve done to my wrist. At the end of the day, the pain and torture has been worth it.”

Also tearing things up on a KTM was Barcelona rider Laia Sanz, competing in her ninth straight Dakar. Stricken with illness, she recovered in time to take the green flag and climbed the leaderboard to finish in 11th place.

[images: Dakar 2019, Marcin Kin]