Toyota Gazoo Racing is without doubt one of the most well-known marques in worldwide motorsport with loads of success from both their flagship group or their regional subsidiaries. Nonetheless, for all of the Dakar Rallies and World Rally-Raid Championships it has gained, a Toyota Hilux had by no means gained the Asia Cross Nation Rally.
That lastly modified in 2024. Of their seventh attempt on the race, Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand broke by means of as Mana Pornsiricherd narrowly defeated the Isuzu D-Max of Suwat Limjirapinya for the win.
Driving a Toyota Hilux Revo, Pornsiricherd gained the opening leg however went off track and completed a paltry twenty-fifth in Stage #2, dropping him to seventeenth. He clawed his method again up the order with a 3rd in Stage #3 earlier than profitable the fourth to maneuver up into second behind 2022 winner Chayapon Yotha of rival Workforce Mitsubishi Ralliart.
Though main by twenty-four minutes after 4 days, Yotha’s rally got here to an abrupt finish with a mechanical failure on the penultimate stage. Workforce-mate Kazuto Koide towed him to the end, however a three-hour time penalty ended his race. Pornsiricherd inherited the general lead with one other stage win. Limjirapinya claimed the final stage in an Isuzu D-Max 1–2–3 end whereas Pornsiricherd was sixth, however the former couldn’t shut the hole.
Thongchai Klinkate, who completed second in Stage #6, was third to win the T2A-D class for manufacturing automobiles. TGR driver Ikuo Hanawa, who has been targeted on desert races in North America like SCORE Worldwide and the Mint 400, missed out on the rostrum after main the general following two legs. Defending champion Takuma Aoki positioned seventh.
Masanao Nitta was twenty-eighth in his pure fibre Toyota Hilux. It was amongst a handful of slightly distinctive autos within the discipline alongside Ho Huang Chen‘s totally electrical Luxgen D31C5S, which completed thirty-fourth, and the Suzuki Jimny Sierra pickup truck of Roslyn Shen that was constructed by college students at Chuoh Technical Faculty. Shen’s truck rolled over throughout a really steep and rocky descent in Stage #4, a bit that was so punishing for automobiles that solely twenty-eight of the forty-five starters reached the end.
Masato Kawabata gained the T1G class within the first AXCR for actor Present Aikawa and his FLEX SHOW AIKAWA Racing since 2019.
The 2-wheeled aspect noticed the general lead change palms a number of instances on the finish of every of the primary 4 phases. Mario Renato Karel Iroth led the primary day earlier than falling behind the subsequent day, and Yasubumi Sunakawa assumed the spot for 2 days till penalties dropped him out of the race. Norihisa Matsumoto gained the fifth stage and rode off to the win.
Masahito Watanabe and Mashiro Ozeki reached the end of their sidecar bike, a modified Husqvarna FE 501. After being the one sidecar in 2023, they have been joined by the Ural T TWD of Ade Mohamad Yusuf and Teddy Wibowo till the latter group dropped out in Stage #3.
The rally completely passed off in Thailand for security causes after initially being scheduled to undergo Malaysia.
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