Toyota: Early Dakar stages key to beating Peugeot

The South Africa-based team will field the latest version of its four-wheel drive Toyota Hilux in the event, its cars driven by two-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, 2009 winner Giniel de Villiers and stage winner Bernhard ten Brinke.

Toyota has yet to win the Dakar, and the Hiluxes were roundly beaten by Peugeot's two-wheel-drive buggies last year – but regulation changes ahead of the 2018 race have left the French manufacturer doubting its status as favourite.

Asked whether Toyota was now ahead of Peugeot in the competitive order, Hall told Motorsport.com: “I hope so – obviously at the moment I don't know.

“All I know is, we are faster than before. How much - I don't know, we'll see. But for sure we're faster than we've ever been, that is clear.

“If we can race with the Peugeots, then we must try and hold them through the dunes in Peru. And if we can do that, maybe we'll be okay.”

The Dakar, returning to Peru for the first time since 2013, will be in the country for the opening five stages, the route for which will be largely comprised of sand dunes.

Hall stressed the importance of the opening stretch of the rally, but admitted he still had concerns over the high-altitude running on the Bolivian Plateau, where Toyota's normally-aspirated engine has usually struggled against Peugeot's twin-turbo diesel.

“I think on the tight off-piste road, we have a very good chance, and in the rally road in [Bolivian capital] La Paz area - but we are hoping, we are hoping that even in the sand dune we will be similar pace,” Hall said.

“If we are like this, we'll be happy, and of course we still have the worry for the altitude for our normally-aspirated engine.

“I'm hoping we will be the same [as Peugeot] in most places, and then a little bit better in some places, that is my... not dream, but that is our wish.”

Buggy “sitting in the workshop”

Toyota had developed its own two-wheel drive buggy back in 2016, dubbed the Hilux Evo, but the team subsequently decided the car wasn't ready to contest last year's Dakar.

Hall confirmed that the focus going forward will be fully on the new all-wheel-drive challenger.

“We developed a buggy last year, and for the future we knew that the regulations would be more equal, the new regulations, for 2019, so we focused on 4x4,” he explained.

“But we actually built a buggy, we developed it, and a lot of this car used the development and experience from the buggy, so we can have both ways of thinking, at a high level.”

Hall said the team currently does not have any plans to race the buggy, nor to sell it to a privateer entrant: “That, at the moment, is our decision. It is sitting in the workshop.

“We don't want to sell it - maybe next year or two years, maybe we might, but for now there's a lot of technology we don't want to be seen or be known to other people, we've made the decision just to keep it.”