Toyota Hilux teammates have head-on collision at Dakar Rally

Toyota Gazoo Hilux driver Giniel de Villiers had a head-on crash with teammate Saood Variawa in a freak accident at the Dakar Rally on Monday.

The cars collided in thick dust while looking for the correct route near the end of the 48-hour Chrono marathon stage which took place over two days. The drivers and their navigators were uninjured, but their South African-built Hiluxes suffered major damage and lost time, which dropped them down the rankings.

For De Villiers and navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz it was a serious blow as they were in eighth place in the virtual overall rankings shortly before the crash. After salvaging parts from Variawa's car, the veteran duo managed to complete the stage but lost 2hr 20min 10sec in the process. This drops them to 36th overall, with a deficit of 2hr 19min 25sec.

Variawa and his navigator Francois Cazalet faced a massive job making running repairs to their damaged car. The pair completed the stage 8hr 4min 5sec behind the leaders, sending them tumbling down the order. The young driver, in only his second Dakar Rally, will be looking to gain experience over the coming days in addition to posting fast stage times and supporting his teammates.

"It was all going very well until 40km from the end. Then there were quite a few cars together, about 11 of us, and we all were sort of in a 'dust train'. And then, unfortunately, some of the front guys lost the route," said De Villiers, a veteran Dakar racer and former winner competing in his final event with Toyota.

"The navigation was quite tricky. I think Saood and Francois also struggled. They came back to find the right way, and we had a head-on collision in the dust. That's really unfortunate. We managed to fix the car, took some parts from Saood's car because his car is a bit more damaged than mine."

A consolation for the Toyota Gazoo team was its driver Henk Lategan taking the overall lead after placing fourth in the stage. He has a four minute 45 second lead in the overall standings ahead of local hero, Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Team Overdrive Hilux), and Qatari five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider).

The 48-hour Chrono, in its second year as part of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, served as stage two of the event, and saw competitors start from the bivouac near the town of Bisha on Sunday. From there, the crews raced along a route comprising dunes, sandy tracks and rocky traverses until 5pm local time, at which point racing was suspended, and the crews had to overnight in whichever one of six mini bivouacs was nearest to them.

At sunrise on Monday, racing resumed with cars, setting off at one-minute intervals. Depending on where the crews overnighted, they had about 350km to race before the end of the stage, with a short liaison back to Bisha.