Dennis Zenz is used to riding shotgun in the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1U and calling the shots for Seth Quintero, but he got a chance to sit behind the wheel himself during the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Not that it’s something he’d want to do in an actual race anytime soon, of course.
Zenz drove the Hilux during the second day of the Festival of Speed, taking part in the Hillclimb, which he sandwiched between his usual duties as the navigator.
“Must say I was pretty nervous to do a mistake, but at the end enjoyed every single second. Mhhhh but to be honest, I think I’ll stay in the codriver seat. Don’t wanna get lost to often with @sethquintero_103 being my navigator,” wrote Zenz.
The Hilux was among a fleet of vehicles brought by Toyota Gazoo Racing that included their World Rally and Endurance Championship cars and even a hydrogen-based Toyota GR Yaris that actor Rowan Atkinson drove.
Zenz, Quintero, and TGR team-mate Lucas Moraes‘ co-driver Armand Monleón all took the truck around the festival’s three stages including the Off-Road Arena and Forest Rally Stage. Moraes was not in attendance as he recovers from a concussion and cuts he suffered in a cycling accident, though with the next World Rally-Raid Championship round not until October, he hopes to rejoin the team for media events starting with the Summer Olympics in August. Quintero particularly wowed the crowd with his doughnuts.
“To be here with the whole Toyota Gazoo Racing team is an unreal experience,” said Quintero. “Had lot of fun going up the hill in the big truck and then also got to drive a couple other cars too, so it’s been a really fun experience.
“I don’t think people expected this big of a truck to be here and to go on these narrow stages and honestly on the Hillclimb too. Everybody loves seeing the car jack up and down and see how that goes, so it’s been a lot of fun to see everybody’s impression. Obviously we’ve got some fans in Dakar, but I think we’ve got more fans here.”
Toyota’s W2RC programme has attended Goodwood annually since 2022, but was not the only rally raid entity present last weekend. Their WRC rival Ford Performance and M-Sport, a relative newcomer to rally raid, unveiled their new Ford Raptor T1+ during the festival that defending Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz demonstrated shortly after. The Raptor also took part in the Hillclimb but was not timed either.
Although Team Audi Sport dissolved their rally raid team after winning the Dakar Rally with Sainz in January, the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 still appeared for a demonstration courtesy of Mattias Ekström‘s co-driver Emil Bergkvist and Frida Fjellstedt. Ekström himself was unavailable as he was racing in Scotland with Extreme E.
Hans Stacey, winner of the 2007 Paris-Dakar Rally in the truck category, took part in the Forest Rally Stage in a 1985 Audi Quattro Dakar that he intends to race at the 2025 Dakar Classic. He set a total time of 6:17.6, consisting of 3:08.9 and 3:08.7 his the two runs, in the Friday Shootout which ranked third among the five cars in Legends of Group B; class winner John Saunders‘ MG Metro 6R4 had a time of 5:41. Fons Jans also drove a Quattro Dakar with a fastest run of 3:34.9.
