FNX Magokiler Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Toyota and Audi are ready to resume the fight for domination of the sands of Saudi Arabia. The 2023 Dakar Rally is just around the corner. The 45th edition of the toughest race in the world will be held entirely in Saudi Arabia, starting on December 31 and ending on January 15 after a 14-stage dispute, with a 8,549 km route and 4,706 km of competitive specials. It is expected that 365 vehicles will start on a Red Sea beach, of which 160 will compete in the Car category, the most important of the event. And between them there will be an unleashed fight between the official firms Toyota and Audi. The Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ Toyota Gazoo Racing will face the 2023 Dakar Rally with a team of three vehicles, with defending champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel in car number 200, escorted by former champion Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy (205), and with Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (217) as squires. They will all compete in the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+, an improved version in terms of quality, durability and reliability of the winning model in the Dakar 2022. The brand indicates that the suspension components and forks have been reinforced, the settings have been optimized of single shock absorber, as well as the shifting characteristics of the transmission. Finally, the software has been tweaked to accept the most modern racing fuel. It is worth remembering that despite its name and exterior style, the GR DKR Hilux T1+ is not based on a Hilux pick-up but on a Land Cruiser 300 designed with a tubular frame. It mounts the V35A engine, a twin-turbo petrol with 355 Hp of power and 620 Nm of torque, which is limited by the FIA reference power curve. It is managed through a 6-speed Sadev sequential gearbox and has limited-slip front, center and rear differentials. The RS Q e-tron E2 On the Audi side, the German brand will debut the RS Q e-tron E2, the evolution of the hybrid model that will debut in 2022. The brand indicates that the entire bodywork has been redesigned and that all the parts are new, adopting, incidentally, several measures to reduce the weight, which is 2,100 kilos. Aerodynamics has also been an important point, since the designers have managed to reduce aerodynamic resistance by 15%. Powertrain-wise, the RS Q e-tron E2 remains a hybrid equipped with a pair of electric motors complemented by a DTM-derived motor, used solely to charge the batteries. The brand indicates that many shortcomings that appeared in the previous Dakar have been improved and, for example, the servo pump, the air conditioning cooling pump and the fans have been optimized to save energy in the stages. The interior was also improved to make it more user-friendly. Audi will field a three-car team on the Dakar, driven by Stéphane Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekstrom. https://noticias.autocosmos.cl/2022/12/12/dakar-2023-la-guerra-de-los-autos-esta-por-comenzar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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