Toyota Hiluxes 1-2-3-4-5 in tough Bronkhorstspruit 400
It was all about Toyota Hilux T1+ race bakkies in the third round South African Rally-Raid Championship TeamHilux Bronkhorstspruit 300 over the weekend. An enthusiastic crowd took advantage of the local Rally-Raid round’s proximity from Johannesburg and Pretoria to lap the Bronkhorstspruit action up as Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings led a Toyota Production Vehicle 1-2-3-4-5 by just 21 seconds over teammates Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy.
Visser’s Red-Lined broke Toyota Domination
Home TeamHilux duo, Johan and Werner Horn were third from T1 winners Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar’s second TeamHilux entry, with Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle’s third Gazoo entry in fifth. Second in T1 after the dice of the weekend with the class winners, Chris Visser and Albertus Venter’s Dragon Energy Red-Lined REVO broke the Toyota train in sixth overall.
NWM Ford Castrol duo Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer struggled home seventh overall ahead of FIA T1.2 for rear-wheel-drive class winners Ernest Roberts and Henry Köhne’s JCP Steel Century CR-6. Two International crews, Daniel Schröder and Ryan Bland, who ended third in T1 driving their Nissan Navara and French crew, Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier’s second on T1.2 Century CR-6 rounded out the top ten.
Unstoppable Botha tames Bronkhorstspruit too
Gazoo Racing T1+ duo Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen also struggled en route to 11th ahead of a gaggle of eclectic T1 machinery comprising Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren’s King Price Xtreme Mercedes-Benz, Richard Leeke and Zaheer Bodhanya’s Leeke Motorsport machine and Red-Lined duo, the unstoppable Philip Botha and Roelof Janse van Vuren’s Penta VK56 growing their incredible finishing record to 17 races in a row, and rookies Nicolas Pienaar and Carl Swanepoel’s Super Energi Fuels VK50.
Lance Trethewey and Leonard Cremer’s third-place T1.2 King Price Xtreme CR6 was next home from Class T winner, young gun Jayden Els and Armand du Toit’s King Price Xtreme Renault Duster, which pipped stalwart Johan and Sean van Staden’s similar KEC car and Christo Rose and Arno Olivier NWR Ford Ranger to class honours.
Bronkhorstspruit a Specials race of attrition
Bronkhorstspruit proved a race of attrition for the Special Vehicle crews. Former champions Tim Howes and Gary Campbell ended 20th overall to take the category win aboard their Timdrew Property BAT Spec 4. Class A crew Lood du Preez and Chris Visser Jr.’s Farmers Meat Stryker ended a distant second from side-by-side crews, Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman’s Hydro Power Can-Am two minutes clear of Peter Walter and Pierre Jordaan and Werner and Ian Mostert’s similar machines
The SA Rally-Raid Championship heads to the double-header Nampo 800 next around Bothaville on 30 September and 1 October, before a final double-header in Parys later in the year.
Images: Andre Laubscher