Dakar 2024 – Toyota recruits Seth Quintero and Lucas Moraes

At Toyota Gazoo Racing, we trust young people for the Dakar 2024. The Saudi event, which will take place from January 5 to 19 as part of the World Championship of rally-raid (W2RC) will see the presence of two elite crews in the official Japanese team.

Indeed, following the resounding departure of double world champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel to Prodrive this fall, Toyota favored succession, by signing the duo Seth Quintero-Dennis Zenz and Lucas Moraes-Armand Monléon.

Victorious in T3 in W2RC in 2023, the Light Prototype category just below the premier category of rally-raid, Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz have a laudatory reputation, with 12 stage victories in T3 on the Dakar 2022 in particular. Seth Quintero is considered one of the great hopes of rally-raid, protected by Red Bull since his adolescence. The Californian is only 21 years old!

 

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“I am obsessed with the idea of ​​progressing, of improving myself, declared the American. This step towards T1+ is all I could have hoped for for some time now. »

ALSO READ > Dakar 2024 – Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel join Prodrive

Compared to Seth Quintero, Lucas Moraes is almost considered “old” because he is 32 years old. However, the Brazilian also embodies the new face of rally-raid. Ranked third for his discovery of the Dakar in 2023 with Overdrive Racing on a Toyota Hilux T1+, Lucas Moraes combines speed and maturity.

“My first Dakar was not easy because I had to learn the strategies of this unique race on the job, he says. It's a dream come true by joining the official Toyota team at the Dakar. The next edition will be exciting to follow, with our team of young people facing the veterans of the discipline (Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel at Audi for example. Editor’s note). I believe we can achieve something special. »

Both crews will participate in the Dubai International Baja (November 10-13) to practice, while Lucas Moraes will continue with the Baja Qassim in Saudi Arabia from November 23-25.

Furthermore, Toyota has confirmed the arrival of modifications to its 4×4 Hilux T1+, without revealing the outlines. Likewise, a low-emission vehicle project, in line with the Dakar Future / Mission 1000 initiative, is in the works. Here too, we will have to wait a few weeks before knowing more.