Akira Miura and his Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body were boiling in the Moroccan heat last month, but it will be all worth it come January. From 17–28 June, the team conducted two weeks of testing in Morocco to gauge and upgrade their Toyota Land Cruisers’ capabilities in the desert for the 2025 Dakar Rally.
“Not everything went perfectly, but it turned out to be a very easy and fun car to drive, and I’m keen to show a solid performance at the upcoming Dakar Rally 2025,” said Miura.
Although the team won their eleventh consecutive Dakar Rally in the Stock category in January, team-mate Ronald Basso‘s Land Cruiser finished nearly forty-eight hours behind Miura due to a rash of stage retirements brought on by mechanical failures and crashes. Miura also had his own struggles with high oil temperatures and getting stuck.
For their test, TLC placed emphasis on improving the car’s durability in difficult desert terrain. To do this, the suspension stroke has been increased while Toyo Tire is providing new tyres.
In total, Miura drove the car roughly four thousand kilometres on both gravel and sand. Temperatures typically ran over forty degrees Celsius (104° F) during their fortnight in Morocco.
“The desired performance improvement was as expected, and in the heat wave that reached over 40 degrees Celsius over consecutive days, the rally car experienced heat-related problems caused by the high temperatures; issues that had never occurred before,” commented lead engineer Philippe Challoy. “The fact that we were able to identify issues that need to be overcome in an environment with a greater load than the Dakar Rally at this time is also very noteworthy, as we want to build up an even higher level of reliability for the Dakar.”
The team will return to Morocco in October for the Rallye du Maroc, the final leg of the World Rally-Raid Championship and often used as a final dress rehearsal for those heading to Dakar afterwards. Basso is the defending race winner.
Development of the car is particularly imperative for TLC as data from their rallies is transmitted to parent company Toyota Motor Corporation, which is then used for the roadgoing Land Cruiser. TLC manager Yuji Kakutani stated “would like to share accurate information not only within the TLC team but also with the development team of production cars. I would like the strengthening of rally cars to lead to the creation of even better Land Cruisers.
“In addition, the team members performed their parts well, and I feel confident relying on them. They demonstrated flawless teamwork.”
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs on 3–17 January. Miura, who recently added a victory in the premier Ultimate class, will be going for his fourth Stock Dakar win.
