Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body brought both of their Toyota Land Cruisers to the 2024 Dakar Rally finish en route to their eleventh straight Stock category win, but their vehicles took quite a beating. With the 2025 route expected to be even harder, the team intends to focus on improving the Land Cruiser’s durability when they begin testing in Morocco for two weeks in mid-June.
After both Akira Miura and Ronald Basso suffered stage retirements in 2023, the former claimed seven stage wins while the latter won five in 2024. Miura enjoyed his fourth Dakar win in the Stock class, finishing nearly two full days ahead of Basso due to a rash of mechanical issues that punished Basso’s Land Cruiser 300 GR Sport.
The Dakar came on the heels of Basso winning the Rallye du Maroc in Morocco, where Miura won three stages to Basso’s two but did not finish after the drive system failed on the final day. Morocco is often used as a dress rehearsal for teams competing at Dakar, and Toyota Auto Body conducts their desert rally tests annually in the North African country.
“The difficulty of the Dakar Rally is increasing year by year, and the 2025 event is expected to be even more difficult and tough,” reads a team statement. “Based on the experience of the previous event, we will continue to improve the suspension and tyres jointly developed by Toyo Tire Co., Ltd. and TLC in order to further improve the running performance.
“In addition, we will evaluate the measures against the troubles that occurred in the previous event on various road surfaces in Morocco, which are similar to the environment of the Dakar Rally, and aim to improve reliability and durability. By working to further improve the running performance, reliability, and durability of the Land Cruiser, we will strengthen the rally vehicle and lead to the creation of an even better Land Cruiser.”
Rallies are often used by Toyota Auto Body, one of Toyota Motor Corporation’s manufacturing arms, to help develop the roadgoing Land Cruiser.
Miura will arrive in Morocco on the heels of a successful début in the Ultimate class, winning the Baja Greece in May in his maiden race in a Toyota Hilux.
The 2023 Rallye du Maroc is scheduled for 5–11 October, while the 2025 Dakar Rally runs on 3–17 January.
