Team South Africa improved one position on 2012’s third place in the Dakar Rally, with Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz clinching the silver medal in this year’s grueling South American race in their locally made and developed Toyota Hilux.

De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz on the weekend finished the 2013 Dakar Rally behind defending champions Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean Paul Cottret, of France, following a two-week, 8 500 km haul through Peru, Argentina and Chile. 

De Villiers, 40, from Stellenbosch, and Von Zitzewitz, 44, from Karlshof, in Germany, have contested six Dakars together since 2007. They were placed eleventh in 2007, first in 2009, seventh in 2010, second in 2011, third in 2012 and now second in 2013.
 
De Villiers and Von Zitzewitz in 2009 rang in the era of diesel domination on the Dakar. In 2012 and 2013, however, they proved the potential of production-based petrol engines.

Last year, the South African–German duo celebrated the first podium place for a non-diesel vehicle since 2009. This year they posted the best result for a Dakar 4x4 vehicle powered by a petrol engine in the history of South America-based Dakar rallies.  
 
Their Toyota Hilux, built and developed by Midrand-based Hallspeed on behalf of Toyota South Africa, had undergone a wide-ranging evolution since last year. A production-based 5 l, V8 engine replaced the 4.7 l version previously fitted to this off-road pick-up, providing increased torque and power.
 
 “It was a difficult race, as usual,” De Villiers commented on the 2013 event. “The Dakar is never easy. Second place counts as a victory for us. Last year we exceeded our expectations by far, [and] who would have believed we would better our third place then. We were a bit unlucky at times, which prevented us from finishing a bit closer to Stéphane. You need a bit of luck in the Dakar, you need the wind to blow in your favour. It wasn't always the case for us, but that’s racing.”

The competition this year was a lot stronger than in 2012, added De Villiers.

“There were numerous candidates for victory; we were the underdogs. Our reliability enabled us to not only beat the Dakar, but also made the decisive difference. Toyota’s three-year programme got off to a first-class start.  We can now move on and maybe do even better next year. I’m looking forward to that.”
 
The South African team’s participation was made possible by Toyota, Imperial Toyota, Duxbury Netgear, SAA, SAA Cargo, Innovation Group, Toyota Financial Services, Blue Sky, Bosch, Castrol, DeWalt, Donaldson, Edgecam, 4x4 Mega World, Hallspeed, Mastercraft, Michelin, Mistral, NGK, Oakley, SKF, Spanjaard and TFM.