Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body has dominated the Dakar Rally’s Stock class with 12 straight wins dating back to 2014, though it will have some competition in 2026 with the arrival of Land Rover and new regulations. To get the Land Cruisers up to scratch ahead of next year, the team will head to Morocco for the Carta Rallye on April 14–20.

It will be the team’s debut in the Carta Rallye. Although Toyota Auto Body brings the Land Cruisers to exhibitions at rallies and other events in Japan, they rarely compete in races outside of the Dakar Rally and Rallye du Maroc, which are on the World Rally-Raid Championship.

In fact, the last time TAB raced an event that wasn’t on the premier FIA cross-country championship’s schedule was the 2019 Silk Way Rally, where Akira Miura won in T2. The SWR would be added to the 2020 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies (predecessor to the W2RC), but the season was canceled due to COVID-19. The team raced the inaugural Andalucía Rally later in 2020, which was technically not part of the World Cup but basically doubled as a makeup Rallye du Maroc since the latter was called off and had the same organizers.

In January, Miura won the Dakar Rally in Stock for the fifth time ahead of his teammate Ronald Basso. While Miura has raced for Toyota Auto Body since 2016, he’s also been dabbling in the Ultimate class with the Toyota Hilux in the FIA World Baja Cup.

While the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR Sport has proven reliable (a priority for the team since race data is used to improve the production model), it still takes beatings at Dakar and the Rallye du Maroc. A 2026-legal Land Cruiser, which began development in mid-2024 and is also based on the 300 GR Sport, will be fielded for the first time at the Carta Rallye. TAB also does annual tests in the Moroccan desert between Dakar and the RdM.

The Carta Rallye is an independent rally overseen by W2RC navigator Sébastien Delaunay.

“Proud to be the race director but very stressfull to receive so many big name on my race,” Delaunay remarked to 131 Off-Road following the news of Noa Sainct’s entry. Naturally, Toyota Auto Body also counts as a big name.

Featured image credit: Frederic Le Floc’h / DPPI