Dakar 2023 Nissan Results

The other day we did the Classic entries, today we’re doing the participants in the primary event. This is much tougher and the real show. Recent years have seen declining numbers of entrants using Nissans but Redlined Motoring has really brought the platform back to being a major player.

Unfortunately a number of Nissan entries that were expected to be present this year, did not show. Given that it appears as if the entire Turkmenistan team of Patrols did not attend and there had been a number of other “Russian-related” teams that did not attend, I suspect there was a bit of a kerfuffle between the ASO and this group which unfortunately resulted in them not participating.

That said…the Nissan results are as follows and are extremely impressive with all four of the Redline built Navara’s crossing the finish with Daniel Schroeder being the foremost among them. Despite this being one of the older Navara’s produced by Redline, Schroeder has lots of prior experience with this being his 7th Dakar and second behind the wheel and finishing 36th last year. In three prior Dakar’s he was codriver for his father and also has two Dakar finishes on a bike in 2011 and 2012.

#235 Daniel Schroeder, Nissan Navara VK50—56th of 123

#245 Thomas Bell, Nissan Navara VK56—72nd of 123

#249 Mohamad Altwijri, Nissan Navara—DNS

#259 Ibrahim Almuhna, Nissan Patrol—DNF on Stage 6

#263 Ronald Van Loon, Nissan Navara VK50—106th of 123

#266 Dave Klaassen, Nissan Navara VK56—80th of 123

#271 Gurbanberdi Danatarow, Nissan Patrol—DNS

#272 Hydyrberdi Abdurahmanov, Nissan Patrol—DNS

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Nissan Based Classic Dakar Entries...

Lets face it…Nissan has always been an “also ran” in the Dakar…coming close a few times but never taking the top spot in the world’s best endurance race. That said…with the opening of the Dakar Classic category the last few years it has brought out some cool vehicles from mothballs and I like to track them and see pictures of them. So here with the official release of the Dakar ‘23 entry lists we can see what we have for this edition. They’ll be up against the usual range of Mitsubishi Pajeros, Landcruisers, Fiat Pandas, Rothsport Porsches, etc. but are represented in surprisingly good numbers with many coming from the Italian firm of Tecnosport who is sending a whole range of Nissans over for the Dakar Classic as you can see in the car hauler picture at the bottom…So without further delay, here are your Nissan based Dakar Classic entries for 2023 and a few photos of the vehicles.

• Team # 722 Nissan Pathfinder Valentina Casella

• Team #729 Nissan Patrol GR Y61 Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

• Team #748 Nissan Patrol K260 Luis Pedrals Marot

• Team #749 Nissan Patrol GR Y60 Radek Vavra

• Team #750 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Urbano Alfonso Gherardo Clerici

• Team #754 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Francisco Javier Benavente

• Team #757 Nissan Patrol Y60 Jean-Christophe Moine

• Team #767 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Dutschler Gian Enrico

• Team #773 Nissan Patrol 260 Asier Duarte Rodriguez

• Team #790 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Garosci Riccardo

• Team #792 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Lorenzo Piolini

• Team #796 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder)

• Team #806 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Peter Schey

Classic and other Nissans at Dakar 2022

Well…another year, another post on this topic. I thought I might have exited this space a bit due to recent events but we can get to that some time in the future. For now it appears I’ll still be tied to the Nissan offroad racing community in one fashion or another. So off we go.

2022 appears to be a bit better than 2021 with a number of decent entries in the primary class of “cars” but also sees a huge influx of Dakar entries in the “Classic” class as well…so at least we have a bunch of teams to follow and pictures to see even if the results won’t be at the top of the standings.

So off we go…First up are those Nissans in the “car” class and running against the big boys of the sport. Here we have:

#291 Nissan Patrol of Ibrahim Almuhna

#280 Nissan Proto of Jose Manuel Salinero

#272 Nissan Patrol of Silvio Totani

#267 Nissan Navara of Jurgen Schroeder (who was replaced by his son Daniel Schroeder due to Covid)

#265 Nissan Navara of Markus Walcher

Nissans running in the "Classic” class are as follows:

#719 Nissan Terrano of Maurizio Traglio

#751 Nissan Terrano of Francisco Javier Benavente

#753 Nissan Patrol of Michel Blanc

#759 Nissan Terrano of Luciano Carcheri

#761 Nissan Patrol of Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

#767 Nissan Terrano of Giacomo Clerici

#770 Nissan Patrol of Guido Dallarosa

#795 Nissan Patrol of Eje Elgh

#806 Nissan Patrol of Luis Pedrals Marot

#819 Nissan Patrol of Noemi Rodriguez Moreno

#828 Nissan Patrol of Francesc Termens

Nissans at Dubai International Baja 2021

There may not have been any (yes, ANY) Nissans at this year’s Dakar but as we saw at the Russia based Northern Forest Rally, there are Nissans out there in rally-raids globally. Last weekend was the Dubai International Baja. As a FIA “baja” event its fairly short…nothing the length of Dakar or Morocco or similar but still a great test for top end teams. Last weekend saw the event won by perennial frontrunner in Rally Raid events including a number of Dakar stage wins, Yazeed al-Raji in his Hi-Lux developed by the Overdrive team followed by three other Dakar factory (or former factory) vehicles in one JCW Mini and two “Pugs”

Three Nissans entered the FIA level event—a Nissan “pickup” run by Khaled al Feraihi, a South Africa built V8 Navara piloted by Thomas Bell and another Nissan “pickup” driven by Khalid al Helei. Three other Nissan Patrols entered the National event. So a full 20% of the entries between the two levels of entrants were Nissans.

Results? Well…not as good. al Helei who was the highest seeded driver bowed out and DNF’d with a mechanical issue while al Feraihi looks to have suffered some difficulties as was the second to last of the finishers in the FIA class with 14 hours of penalties in 11th place. Thomas Bell actually performed well, with 30 minutes of penalties, finishing some 4 hours behind the winner in 10th place. None of the three Patrols looks to have finished in the regional class.

From the looks of the photos the event was dune heavy and I’m guessing the more limited Patrols were unable to get through the sand in an adequate fashion with the lighter, nimbler, UTVs in their class were able to fly through them. Photos of Bell’s Red-Lined Motorsport Navara look incredible though! Photos credited to MCH Photo

Classic Nissans at the 2021 Dakar--Results!

So with no “real” Nissans in the 2021 Dakar, all we were left with was those entered in the Classic category which did not face the full brunt of the Dakar and while not easy by any means was a bit disappointing. When Chinese manufacturers field more than a dozen entrants and Nissan not a one? There is trouble abrewing…

Still, seeing these old gals out and playing was good and represents a time when Nissan was putting forth its best efforts. Now? The flag is left to be flown by privateer efforts like Redlined Motorsport out of South Africa who did not enter vehicles this year largely due to Covid…Hopefully they will be back in ‘22.

So what did we end up with in the Classic category?

Well, the first and only Classic category vehicle to drop out was the Mercedes G320 (Gwagon) of Carlos Sanchez on Stage 10…so at least all the Nissans made it to the end, right?

Finishing positions?

Well, there were 24 starters overall, 23 finished the Classic Dakar course.

Francisco Benavente of Spain in his Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) finished in 18th overall with a high of a third place finish on Stage 5.

Luciano Carcheri of Italy and his Nissan Patrol were extraordinarily consistent in their finishing—never higher than 7th in their stage finishes but also never lower than 16th. They finished an excellent 7th overall.

Annnnd…that’s it. The whole kit and kaboodle of Nissans in this year’s Dakar. A few nice shots came out of it of the Nissans racing but…kinda few and far between. Here’s to a great 2021 in hopes that Redlined continues to build their customer base and we get some more Nissan racing efforts that aren’t watered down, spec, Sentra racing on tarmac…please Nissan…give me a break…

Till then? Some of us will soldier on…

Classic Nissans at Dakar 2021

Well…it looks like Dakar will happen…maybe…possibly….hopefully…kinda…

With no fans at any point—even more limited than last year’s first Saudi edition—and less coverage and everyone focused on other events, Dakar 2021, if it occurs, will be about as under the radar as the world’s biggest and most difficult motorsports event can get.

One item of note about this year’s version is the inclusion of the “Classic” class. Not fully racing the event but not just a media tour, the Classic Class is intended to bring out older vehicles that have participated in or are designed to mimic those vehicles that have previously participated in, the Dakar. It really shows off some epic, rare and unusual vehicles. The full list of vehicles entered—both in the Classic and regular classes—has not been released but is expected to come this Wednesday November 25th. We’ll see the full list of Nissans entered at that point but already there are a few here in the Classic Class to follow and drool over.

First is the #225 Nissan Patrol of Lucian Carcheri

Second is the #220 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) of Francisco Benavente

There are also a number of other super interesting vehicles listed so far in the Classic Class including a faux-Rothman Porsche, a little Skoda sedan (one a female centric American effort and the other co-piloted by an American surfshop owner and prior Dakar bike finisher respectively) and a couple Sunhil buggies which I am in love with the looks of. We’ll be back to cover what the total of Nissan entries are after Wednesday’s announcements…

Nissans at Baja Portalegre 2020

Rally Raid goes on regardless of Covid and worldwide disruption. I have my concerns about whether Dakar is going to happen in early 2021 but many organizations are pushing forward with events including the Baja 1000 coming up in Mexico, a host of rally raid events in Europe and South America over the past month or so and upcoming two events in the Middle East. So…some of us have gotten on with the business of living life….

Baja Portalegre is a big annual event that has a fairly lengthy history and brings out some big names. This year it was Dakar regulars Bernhard Ten Brinke and codriver Tom Colsoul taking home the win behind the wheel of a top flight Overdrive Toyota Hilux.

Nissans didn’t take the win (unsurprising!) but did have a number of respectable showings in what looks like a particularly wet and sloppy event. Five of the 29 finishers were behind the wheel of Nissans. Three of these were Navaras and two Pathfinders, finding themselves in 14th, 18th, 21st, 26th and 29th places out of 29 finishers. One Nissan ended as a DNF being the Navara of Nuno Tordo. Of additional note is that the 18th place finisher in Ronald Van Loon and 21st place Stefan Carmans were both VK56 Navaras manufactured by the RedLine Motorsports effort from South Africa who continues to produce these high end vehicles for Privateers across the globe. Photos of some of these vehicles in action at the Portalegre below.

Nissans at the Kameel 250

This is a “warm up” race in South Africa before the larger National events kick off in March. Think of it as a “regional” event with a decidedly lower key atmosphere.

Still the race brought out some big guns, particularly on the Nissan side of things. Terence Marsh and the Red Line Racing team brought two of their top flight Navara’s out to race while other older Nissan Frontiers and even some old Datsuns were entered as well.

The Red Line Navaras finished 1 and 2 in their class, not much of a surprise given there were only three in their class but more importantly out of 43+ entries of all kinds finished 2nd and 15th overall. Oh, and the old green Datsun here also won its class—please note it leaf sprung front and rear ends…what a joy to race that thing!!

Enjoy the pictures and if you want to see more of what South African offload racing looks like go to the event’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Vryburgmotorclub/?tn-str=k*F