Antanas Juknevičius has taken part in the Dakar Rally annually since 2003 and as a driver since 2014. However, the longtime racing dilemmas of equipment disparity and money have prompted him to sit out the 2023 edition.
Juknevičius particularly took issue with the T1+ category, a new World Rally-Raid Championship class for 2022 that consists of 4×4 prototype vehicles larger and more powerful than a standard T1, and the lack of affordable yet competitive options for aspiring entries.
Driving a 2016 Toyota Hilux IRS Overdrive in the T1 class, Juknevičius finished forty-ninth at the 2022 race. While his Kreda team’s vehicles are outdated, they elected to continue with the older truck in the meantime until T1+ equipment became available. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine have resulted in parts shortages across the racing world. Juknevičius pointed out the crises also scare potential manufacturers off from investing into T1+ programmes; Prodrive and Toyota are the only makes in the class with the Hunter and Hilux, respectively.
With only two companies building T1+ cars, prices for them begin in the range of €800 thousand. Although some privateers like Guerlain Chicherit and fellow Lithuanian Vaidotas Žala can afford the switch and will race with Hunters, others are not as fortunate. 2022 Dakar and W2RC T1 champion Nasser Al-Attiyah races with a Hilux T1+, while runner-up Sébastien Loeb and the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team utilise Hunters.
“I have no intention of participating in [Dakar] just to finish or achieve the average result,” Juknevičius explained in a Tuesday social media post. “The team’s ambitions are to fight for a spot in the top 10, and a competitive car is the only T1+ class car that appeared this year in Dakar. Currently the demand for cars of this class is very high and the supply is minimal. Only two manufacturers are producing this racing equipment, and new manufacturers are not in a hurry to enter the market, because the ongoing pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February will cause a lot of trouble with broken supply chains. These circumstances determine record high T1+ class car prices – they start at 800 thousand euros.
“The situation is aggravated not only by the fact that new T1+ class cars are very expensive, but also by the fact that older generation T1+ class vehicles are simply not on the market yet. I think buying a normally untested new generation T1+ car without factory technical support for a private team is just irrational to me. It makes more sense to wait a year and buy one that offers optimal price, quality and performance ratio.
“This is not my first break in the Dakar Rally. I believe that it will only be useful; I will pay great attention to strategic and technical decisions for the coming years. I would like to thank team partners, friends and fans for their support – thanks to all of you, we have overcome 13 Dakars together and I believe we will overcome even more! Still, this doesn’t mean that we won’t be meeting in the upcoming Dakar at all. I’ll let you know my plans soon.”
Since making his Dakar Rally driving début in 2014, Juknevičius’ best run was twelfth in 2018. While he did not enter any other W2RC races after Dakar, he and longtime co-driver Darius Vaičiulis (who skipped the 2022 event for a philanthropic effort) have supported Ukraine’s defence by donating pickup trucks, SUVs, and other off-road vehicles to the Ukrainian Army.
