A double win and a double clean sweep in the mielies
The weekend’s fourth and fifth rounds South African Rally-Raid Championship proved joyful for some and heartbreak for others at Nampo Park outside Bothaville in the Free State. It was double delight for defending champions, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, who won both days. And a double top three for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s DKR Hilux T1s.
Toyota Gazoo Hiluxes Dominated
Lategan and Cummings’ teammates Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy made it a clean sweep on Friday. De Villiers and Murphy then ended second from Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s fourth Gazoo machine on Saturday.
It was a disappointing weekend for Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer’s NWM Ford Castrol T1+ Ranger. They led both days only to succumb to that Toyota wave toward the finish each day. They finished fourth on both Friday and Saturday.
Johan and Werner Horn’s Team Hilux DKR T1+ ended fifth from Variawa and Stassen and Lance Woolridge and Elvéne Vonk’s troubled second factory Ford Ranger on Friday. Team Hilux duo Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar took FIA T1 from Chris Visser and Albertus Venter’s ever-improving Red-Lined REVO.
Maiden Win for Red-Lined Revo
Malcolm and Frans Kock took a maiden FIA T1.2 win in their JCP Steel Century CR6. Matriculant Jayden Els and Armand du Toit took T1 in their King Price Duster. Tim Howes and Gary Campbell took Specials honours in their BAT Spec 4. Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman won Class G in their Hydro Power Can-Am
A nail-biting FIA T1 duel thrilled behind the Saturday Nampo top four. Chris Visser and Albertus Venter stormed to the Red-Lined REVO’s hugely popular first win from Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar’s Hilux.
They were followed by T1.2 winners Lance Trethewey and Leonard Cremer’s King Price Century CR6, T1 duo Daniel Schröder. Ryan Bland Nissan’s Navara was seventh from brothers Johan and Werner Horn’s T1+ Hilux and T1 crew Gary Bertholdt and Juan Möhr’s WCT Hilux.
Double Nampo T Victory for Matriculant Els
Jayden Els and Armand du Toit’s Duster did the Nampo Class T double, Lood du Preez. Chris Visser Jr. took Specials in their Farmers Meat Stryker. Werner and Ian Mostert won Class G in their Moto-Netix Can-Am.
It was also a major weekend for Penta Red-Lined driver Philip Botha. He has now finished every one of his 50 Rally Raid days started since his 2019 debut. The SA Rally-Raid Championship wraps up at the Parys Airfield on the weekend of 11 and 12 November.
Images: Andre Laubscher