Glenn Brinkman has been one of the top side-by-side racers in his native Australia, but will now see if he can translate his skills to the biggest rally raid in the world when he makes his Dakar Rally début in 2024. He is set to drive the #326 Zephyr for PH Sport in the Challenger (formerly T3) category with his usual co-driver Dale Moscatt by his side.
Brinkman and Moscatt primarily race in the Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship. After finishing runner-up in the 2022 SXS Pro class championship, he finished third in the 2023 SXS standings and seventh across all classes with a win at the Pooncarie Desert Dash in April.
“I started competing in motorsports at the age of 21 and I’ve now been involved for the last thirty years,” said Brinkman. “Dakar is the kind of thing you have to do before you die. Dale Moscatt, my co-driver who has done several Dakar Rallies, was one of the instigators, so was Bruce Garland who did the Dakar in Africa and South America and encouraged me to go for it. […]
“For me, rallying was a hobby but for Dale, it’s a full time job. I’m looking for the experience. The goal isn’t the result. The Dakar is far more extreme than the other events I did. It’s another level. I do it to enjoy it. You have to enjoy it. I don’t need a big shiny trophy.”
While most of his competition has been in Australia, he is no stranger to international rallies, let alone the World Rally-Raid Championship which begins its seasons with the Dakar. In 2022, he and Moscatt raced the Rallye du Maroc where they placed forty-fifth overall and fourteenth in T3.
In late February, Brinkman entered the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Once again driving a Zephyr T3, he impressed with a fifth in the opening stage and improved upon it with a fourth three days later, but retired on the final day.
The effort with PH Sport came together via Moscatt, a longtime rally navigator with experience in the World Rally Championship. While he has worked for many brands including Subaru and Mitsubishi, he also spent time at Citroën Racing whose WRC operations were overseen by PH Sport. Moscatt ran his first Dakar in 2016 as the co-driver for Peter Jerie, and returned to the race seven years later with Molly Taylor who placed fourteenth in the T4 category.
“I am a bit nervous to be honest,” Brinkman told AORC.com. “It’s been two years planning so knowing we are just a couple of weeks away has put me on the nervous side of things. It’s a huge investment physically, mentally, and financially, and although I don’t care too much about the money, I would love to finish it. Fifteen days in the car is a long time, and if I can finish it, then I will have reached the pinnacle of my motorsport career.
“For us, the goal is to finish. It is ticking a bucket list item of mine to complete Dakar, but Dale is also a big part of the equation. He wants to finish it just as much as I do. He has finished twice, so I want to keep his record in good tact.”
The duo are the only Australians competing at Dakar in an FIA category, but they will have a familiar face and fellow countryman racing on two wheels in Toby Price. They raced together in June at the AORC’s Finke Desert Race, the premier off-road event in Australia, which Price won in a truck.
The 2024 Dakar Rally kicks off on 5 January.