This week Benediktas Vanagas and Gurtam GAZOO Racing Baltics team officially presented the car, the route, and the crew for the 49th Dakar Rally. More than 100 guests from media and motorsport world were there in person. The floor was covered in sand. That wasn't a coincidence.
A new name, the same commitment
The 2027 season begins under a new team name: Gurtam GAZOO Racing Baltics. The change reflects Toyota's global motorsport strategy, which is consolidating around the GAZOO Racing brand.
For us, the structure stays the same: title partner for the third consecutive year. The launch was held at the sand arena deliberately — and that sand on the floor was a nod to what's waiting in Morocco.
Dakar is a world-class challenge, and Lithuania has proven itself there more than once. Gurtam competes in a global market, so we know what it takes to hold your own among the best. Benediktas and his team put Lithuania into the top-10 conversation in the most competitive Dakar category. That's why continuing this partnership in 2027 matters to us.
Aliaksei Shchurko, Founder and CEO of Gurtam
Dakar goes back to Africa
The 2027 edition returns to the continent where the rally was born. The race opens on January 9 with a 29 km prologue in Portugal's Algarve region, followed by a 100 km stage on January 10. The field then crosses to Morocco by ferry for eleven more stages.
Morocco brings the terrain Dakar is known for: dunes, rocky tracks, demanding navigation, and a two-day marathon stage where crews manage without outside technical assistance. The total route covers around 7,824 km, with roughly 4,741 km of timed special stages. The race finishes in Marrakech on January 23.
A car built to compete at the front
The new Toyota DKR GR Hilux — a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol car developed for Dakar's Ultimate category, the most competitive class in the race. Factory GAZOO Racing crews compete in the same generation of machine.
B. Vanagas holds the highest Dakar result ever achieved by a driver from the Baltic states: 8th place in the Ultimate class. The new Hilux was designed for that level of competition.
Same crew heading to Africa
The team name changes, the continent changes, the car changes — the crew doesn't. Aisvydas Paliukėnas returns as navigator for another season alongside B. Vanagas.
As B. Vanagas said: "Continuity matters enormously at Dakar. With Aisvydas, we already know how each other thinks, how we react, how we make decisions. New car, unknown route — that all demands adaptation. Heading to Africa together makes it a lot easier."
