Toyo and TLC celebrate a class win in the production SUV category at the 2025 Dakar
The Team Land Cruiser (TLC), whose tire supplier is Toyo Tires, won in the serial off-road vehicle category following the "Dakar-2025" rally. TLC, the rally team of Toyota Auto Body, won in its class for the 12th time in a row, and this year the Toyota Land Cruiser GR300 Sport cars that participated in the race, which took place in Saudi Arabia from January 3 to 17, were equipped with special Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires made using an increased proportion of environmentally friendly materials.
The tires were created specifically for the "Dakar" and designed to improve handling and durability when used on sand and rocky surfaces, with eco-materials accounting for 55% of the total tire mass. Such "green" raw materials as biobased butadiene and styrene-butadiene rubber, silica from rice husk ash, vegetable oil, recycled steel wire, and pyrolysis oil-derived technical carbon were used.
The 2025 race started in Bisha, southwest Saudi Arabia, and finished in Shaybah, in the east of the country. The rally included 12 special stages, and drivers competed, among other things, on inclined surfaces of sand dunes, where, as noted by Toyo, increased loads are created on both cars and tires. As a result, the Toyo Open Country M/T-R handled their tasks, and both TLC cars reached the finish line.
Akira Miura and his navigator Jean-Michel Polato took first place in the serial off-road vehicle ranking, while their teammates Ronald Basso and Jean-Pierre Garcin came second in the class.
"They said this race would be the toughest in history, and it was exactly as expected. There were moments when I thought it wouldn't be possible to finish the race in a serial car, that the Open Country tires always helped us keep moving forward," Miura noted, thanking everyone involved in the production of the tires.
Yuji Kakutani, TLC director, confirmed that this year's rally was extremely challenging. "In the first half, there were stages with boulders the size of millstones and sharp rocks hidden under the sand, and after that, we had to overcome one of the largest sand dunes in the world, rising like a wall 15 km wide," he said. "I think that in such harsh conditions, we were helped by the confidence of the crew and the excellent properties of the Open Country tires. As a result, we took first and second place in the serial car division and won our 12th consecutive victory."
Toyo notes that the experience of participating in such races helps the company improve the operational characteristics of off-road tires and is of great importance during the development of new products.