The 2022 Dakar Land Cruiser racers

Hey everyone! Today I thought it would be fun to look at all the Land Cruisers racing in the 2022 Dakar rally. I didn't fully appreciate how deep the "classics" field is! Land Cruisers, and the hardy souls that pilot them for the win!

First up is the T2 class! This is the big leagues. These are heavily modified "production" vehicles, basically a modified vehicle you can buy at a dealer. The T1 class are fully modified, which can include new body panels. AKIRA MIURA + LAURENT LICHTLEUCHTER and RONALD BASSO + JEAN MICHEL POLATO are racing two VDJ200 series in the T2 class. This is the last year of the 200 series racing for Toyota in the Dakar. Next year is the 300! Their rigs:

Now, let's check out the awesome rigs in the "classics" racing class. This field is diverse! We have one BJ40, one BJ71, two BJ73s, one HJ70, one HZJ73, two HZJ78s, two HJ61s, twenty one HDJ80s!!!, 4 95 series!, and 3 HDJ100s. What a field! It would be so fun to get a team together and race a Land Cruiser in the classics field. I read that at minimum the Dakar can cost about $200k for a car to race. Who is up to pool some money?! hahahaha

Cheers all and enjoy the long list of cruisers below. Sorry for the small pic size, they are the best I could find so we could all see the rigs and their race numbers. Go follow along on the official Dakar channels and root for our fellow Land Cruiser race drivers.