Official confirmation has finally been given: the 2012 Dakar Hummer, driven by the American Robbie Gordon, has been excluded due to technical rules infringements.
Why is this important to us? Well, it means that all three of the Imperial Toyota teams are placed in the top 10.
The sister Hilux of Argentine privateers Lucio Alvarez and Ronnie Graue moves up from sixth to fifth and the second Imperial Toyota Hilux of South Africans Duncan Vos and Rob Howie is elevated from 11th to 10th place overall.
Gordon’s exclusion was ratified by the international governing body of motorsport, the FIA, last week after he was excluded during the Dakar, but completed the event racing under appeal.
Toyota Motorsport team principal Glyn Hall comments:
“We were already very happy and proud to have all three of our uniquely South African Toyota Hilux bakkies finish the toughest and longest off road race in the world at the team’s first attempt. That they are now officially classified as having completed the gruelling 15-day 8 000-kilometre race in the top 10 is great news.
“It’s also a fitting reward to a special team of South Africans that put in an almost superhuman effort over several months to prepare the vehicles for the event and then looked after them so well throughout the two weeks of competition.”
