South African Airways Cargo has acted as official airfreight partner of the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Team at the 2019 Dakar Rally.

The race takes place from 6 – 17 January in Peru, South America and is seen as the pinnacle in off-road racing and the ultimate test of vehicle durability.

The partnership, which has been in place since 2012 involves transporting the racing vehicles to Sao Paulo, Brazil en route to Lima for the start.

The shipment consists of two vehicles, which each weigh 2,000kgs, and spares, with a total payload of around 8.5 tonnes.

Glyn Hall, team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing says: “Transporting our race cars to South America could take months if we sent them via sea freight. But thanks to our partnership with SAA Cargo, the transport time is vastly reduced, giving us extra time to develop and prepare the cars for the race.”

Justice Luthuli, acting general manager of SAA Cargo says: “The long-standing partnership is a demonstration of trust placed on us by Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Team to handle their most valuable shipment. Through this partnership, we can showcase SAA Cargo’s capability as the provider of air freight solutions.

“It takes about two months to prepare for the journey, in order to ensure seamless transportation. At the centre of this, is our commitment to deliver consistently on customer expectations.  We rely on our capable team to make it possible.”

The 41st edition of the Dakar Rally will start and end in Lima, taking place over 11 days with 450 cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads covering a distance of 6,500 kilometres.

The Gazoo team will be represented by Giniel de Villiers and navigator Dirk von Zitzewtiz; Nasser Al Attiyah and navigator Mathieu Baumel; and Bernhard ten Brinke and navigator Xavier Panseri.