For their tenth Dakar Rally as a duo, twin brothers Tim and Tom Coronel’s Century CR7 will be a lean, green, racing machine.

Team Coronel (formerly Coronel Dakar Team) unveiled their 2026 Dakar program on Sunday at the Coronel Adventure Indoor Klimpark in Huizen. While they’ll still be a Century Racing client as they have since 2022, their CR7 sports some upgrades from their 2025 challenger.

The most notable difference is replacing the blue livery with one that’s green and white after Emotive became the primary sponsor.

Internally, the team reworked the alternator to make it easier to change. Tom noted how it used to take three and a half hours to replace, but can now be done in ten minutes. The drivetrain has also been modified so that power goes to all four wheels in reverse; the CR7, being a T1+ car, was already an AWD.

“In fact, you’re never done developing,” Tim commented. “During the rally, you always run into things that can be different and better, whether it’s driving or opportunities to make maintenance or repairs more efficient.

“Additionally, 25 models of this car are now racing in rallies worldwide, so both we and the manufacturer have learned a lot from that. With some Coronel sauce on top, this should lead to a successful result.”

Besides racing, Tom will be a reporter for the daily race recaps on RTL 7. The brothers also run a podcast with episodes posted each stage.

The Coronels finished 43rd in Ultimate at this year’s Dakar, their first with the CR7 after three starts with the CR6 T1.2. Their race was hampered by mechanical issues, including a disastrous Chrono Stage where they lost four damper springs and Stage 6 in which they got stranded in the desert overnight with dead batteries.

Featured image credit: Frits van Eldik / Frits van Eldik Fotografie