Toyota Gazoo Racing unveils striking Sand Beige livery ahead of SA Safari Rally
The livery pays tribute to the hue that adorns Cruisers and Hiluxes of passionate Toyota owners.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has opened an impressive new motorsport hub in Kyalami, Gauteng.
Paint colours like Rosso Corsa, British Racing Green and Bleu de France are synonymous with motorsport, having adorned legendary racing cars through the ages. Now, Sand Beige can be added to that list.
The popular light brown colour that adorns a large chunk of the Toyota Land Cruiser 70s sold in South Africa has been employed on the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux Ultimate T1+ for the upcoming South African Safari Rally that kicks off near Sun City on Sunday, 18 May.
The team has historically run black or white cars along with the red and white Toyota Gazoo Racing logos but felt a change was necessary for the first home round of the W2RC world championship. Also, finding a home on the rear quarter panel is the now iconic 'It's not a bakkie, it's a Hilux' phrase.
The Sand Beige colour is an iconic Toyota hue and is well-loved by Cruiser owners operating in the South African farming and overlanding community. It makes it a great fit for the pair of racing bakkies at their home round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) in front of their passionate fans.
The two cars run by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa will be piloted by Saood Variawa, Francois Cazalet, Guy Botterill, and navigator Dennis Murphy.
Following their second-place finish at this year's Dakar Rally, Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings have made the step up to the European-based Toyota Gazoo Racing for the remainder of the W2RC season. They will be behind the wheel of a similar Hilux Ultimate T1+ campaigned by that team.
Similarly, veteran Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers will be in contention aboard a Hilux campaigned by the privateer outfit Team Hilux Rally Raid.
Toyota Gazoo Racing opens new facility
The new livery was showcased to the media ahead of the event at the all-new Toyota Gazoo Racing Motorsport Hub, located in Kyalami, Gauteng. The facility sets a new benchmark for South African and international motorsport facilities.
Construction on the 12 500 m² facility began in October 2024 to create a world-class hub dedicated to high-performance motorsport engineering, manufacturing, and development. The Rally-Raid Hub will serve as the new home of TGRSA, housing the team's race vehicles and technical departments under one expansive, multi-level roof, with room to grow in future.
Designed to meet the increasing demands of international competition and continuous innovation, the facility has been purpose-built to support every aspect of modern rally-raid racing. It includes a dedicated engine room, damper laboratory, in-house dyno, and an extensively upgraded fabrication division. The machine shop has also been significantly enhanced, now featuring a full suite of 3-, 4-, and 5-axis CNC machinery, ensuring precision component production at the highest global standards.
The new building dramatically improves capacity, with space to prepare up to 20 race cars, compared to just six at the team's previous base.
Every workshop and support area has been designed to optimise efficiency, workflow, and quality control. This includes a state-of-the-art parts store, complete with a custom-built software system to manage inventory and logistics servicing TGRSA and multiple teams worldwide.
The team at Kyalami can build ten new Hilux race vehicles per year, but a big motivation behind the upgraded facility was to enable the team to increase their fabrication and parts manufacturing capability to meet the needs of Hilux racing teams worldwide. In the last ten years, the local outfit has built close to 140 racing Hiluxes of various iterations, and a large majority of these cars continue to be raced by teams and privateers worldwide.
See the world's top rally raid drivers in action
From Sunday, 18 May, to Saturday, 24 May, Sun City and its surroundings will be transformed into a rally-raid central. Fans are invited to witness the magic of international rally-raid racing up close.
Spectator points are free and located at each stage, allowing fans to watch top local champions go head-to-head with the world's best. General admission tickets and passes are available now via TicketPro.
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