Summarize

South Africa’s Red-Lined Motorsport enjoyed another brilliant Dakar in the gruelling 2024 race that ended in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia on Friday. Billed as one of the toughest Dakar’s in recent years, that did not deter teen sensation Aliyyah Koloc from racing home 25th among the world’s best Ultimate race car rivals in her Red-Lined REVO T1+. Gentleman Rally Raid racer, debutant Stefan Carmans executed a calculated and steady strategy to finish a brilliant 34th overall and second amongst a most experienced field of rookie crews.

“2024 was seen as the most severe Dakar in recent years,” Red-Lined team principal Terence Marsh explained. “Only 37, or half the original 73 Ultimate class starters class completed every stage and every kilometre of this gruelling event. So, we’re naturally over the moon that two of our new REVO+ crews were part of this elite group of Dakar finishers. “The rest of the field either did not finish or finished under ‘Dakar Experience rules’. They carried hefty time penalties for not completing or even missing one or more stages. 

“At just 19 years old, our star of the future, Aliyyah delivered a sensational performance through two treacherous weeks to end 25th overall. Against all odds, gentleman racer Stefan finished 34th overall and second amongst the rookie drivers. What an incredible performance! Sadly, our third Chinese crew, Wei Han and Li Ma were obliged to withdraw their HanWei Motorsport REVO+ from 21st overall. Ma suffered a bad back injury off a hard landing off a chrono stage dune face while en route to a top 20 finish.”

Teen lady racer Aliyyah Koloc was among the young sensations of Dakar 2024. Driving alongside seasoned navigator Sebastien Delaunay, Aliyyah delivered a performance way beyond her years in her Buggyra Racing REVO+. Despite a setback earlier in the first week, she went on to deliver a world class performance on the torturous two-day empty quarter chrono dune stage and fight her way back into the top 40. From there Koloc executed a clean and consistent second week strategy to finish a most impressive 25th overall.

Rookie gentlemen crew, Belgian Stefan Carmans and Dutch notes man Arjan van Tiel were a model of consistency en route to realising their boyhood dreams of finishing the Dakar. 34th was a far better position than they’d ever imagined in the Blueblocks REVO+. Aiming to simply finish each stage before dark during the first week due to their low seeding and late start times, they reached the rest day in a surprising top 40 position. Their calculated and steady performance continued through week 2 to see them home an incredible 34th and second among the rookies. 

“Huge congratulations to Aliyyah and Sebastien, Stefan and Arjan, and then of course to every member of our extended Red-Lined effort across the three privateer teams over these brutal two weeks of adventure. Dakar is a superhuman effort for all concerned and 2024 was one of the most demanding ever.

“To put it into further perspective, that is basically doing a South African National race every day for a solid two weeks. So we are naturally delighted to continue our legendary Red-Lined Dakar performance of an 80% finish rate from our 20 privateer starts over eight years. Our race cars and teams were once again up to the challenge and we are extremely proud of the collective efforts of all concerned,” Terence Marsh concluded. “Well done and congratulations to everyone!”

Red-Lined Motorsport now looks forward to the official launch of its new GT-R powered REVO+ GT-R for 2024 South African Rally Raid Series.