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• Giniel de Villiers is a driver for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team.
• He won the 2009 edition of the Dakar rally.
• De Villiers believes that South Africans can compete against the world when it comes to the Dakar.
• For more motoring stories, go to www.Wheels24.co.za
He's affectionately known as South Africa's own 'Mr. Dakar', but for Giniel de Villiers, he is just living out a passion that began at a very young age. Giniel grew up on a small farm outside Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands and would tag along to motorsport events with his father - a petrol head through and through. It ignited something inside him, and by the age of four, he received his first go-kart.
Racing on the farm, toddler Giniel improved his talent and honed his skill. Over the years, he entered several races until he partook in his first off-road event in 2000. That set the stage for his racing career, and the racer is a living legend in South Africa's motorsport circles.
Speaking to Wheels24, Giniel discusses the Dakar's magic and the lack of opportunities for South African racing talents.
That winning feeling
In 2009, Giniel was part of Volkswagen's Dakar team. Following three stage wins in that year's event, he claimed overall victory and became the first South African to do so. That would be the cherry on the cake of the five Dakars he and VW competed in together before joining the Imperial Toyota team from the 2012 race onwards. The team was renamed Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) South Africa in 2016.
Speaking on that 2009 win, Giniel said: "It's difficult to explain it because it's an incredible feeling! It's difficult to describe it to anyone, but it's a feeling of relief, of joy… When we won in 2009, there were about 100 people in the team. And to share that victory with each one of them, it's quite a feeling to have. I've been second in the Dakar four times and finished third on three occasions, but nothing comes to that feeling of having won the race. That's for sure!"
Giniel is adamant that even though he changed teams ahead of the 2012 race, the goals have always been the same: to win. Starting his tenure with Toyota Gazoo Racing (then Imperial Toyota), he knew that it would not be smooth sailing from the start. The team would have to go through its teething problems and find their feet among themselves before truly competing for overall victory.
The input paid off in 2019 when the team won the Dakar for the first time under its new name (TGR). Though he had one stage win to his name that year, Giniel finished the race in ninth place overall, with his team mate, Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar, taking the overall victory.
SA can compete with the world's best
As was the case in previous races, several South African teams competed in the 2021 edition of the Dakar rally. Even within Toyota Gazoo Racing, the team brought in rookie Henk Lategan to replace Fernando Alonso. Henk drove impeccably and finished two stages in second and third places, respectively. Unfortunately, a crash on Stage 5 saw his rally come to an end. But that's the nature Dakar.
Another local team, Century Racing, had a strong Dakar this year. Brian Baragwanath and (navigator) Taye Perry gave several of the top teams headaches throughout the race, finishing several stages on the podium in their SA-built Century Buggy.
Giniel hails South Africans as a people with 'tremendous amount of talent', but that the expensive nature of motorsport has to affect that participation opportunity are out of reach for many.
He concludes: "Motorsport is an expensive sport, and to give people the opportunity (to compete) is challenging. But if we can create the opportunity for our local talent, there will be a lot more guys competing on the international scene."
