South African Championshiop - Special Vehicle category

After the challenging TGR 1000 Kalahari Botswana Desert Race held at Jwaneng in Botswana that produced new overall and class winners in the Special Vehicle Category of the SA National Rally-Raid Championship, a look at the championship standings shows that anything can still happen in the second half of the season.
With three of the seven rounds of the 2023 season now something of the past, the gauntlet has been thrown down and the challenge is on in the overall as well various class championships in the Special Vehicle Category.
The Botswana event produced a third set of new overall winners this season with John Thomson/Maurice Zermatten (Zarco Challenger) being victorious and, also winning Class A, but it is the defending champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (Tim Drew Property Developments BAT Spec 4) who are still firmly in the overall lead (71 points) despite a somewhat disappointing desert race result.
Thomson/Zermatten, who missed the season opener, have moved up to second place overall (55 points) with Glen Theron/Craig Galvin (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) moving up to the third step on the overall podium (53 points), trailing the desert race winners by only two points.
A blanket of a mere six points covers the four teams from second to fifth place with the Mostert duo, Ian and his father Werner (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) dropping from second to fourth place (49 points) and sharing the same amount of points as Geoff Minnitt/Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment Can-Am Maverick) making it three Class G teams in the overall top five.
In the Overall Special Vehicle Driver’s Championship, Lood du Preez (Farmers Meat Stryker) is sixth (36 points) followed by the leading Class P driver, Quintin Lessing (CRT) (31 points) after a successful outing to Botswana, with Ewald van Rensburg (Can-Am Maverick), who could not finish the race in the desert and Trace Price Moor (BAT Venom) who missed the Botswana event, both on 30 points.
The rest of the top 10 in the Overall Special Vehicle Navigators’ Championship consists of Brendon Smith (31 points) who sits next to Lessing in sixth place; Johan Scheepers, who reads the notes for Van Rensburg and Gareth Aiston, who partnered Price Moor at the Sugarbelt 400 both have 30 points; Junior Vardy (24 points) scored points next to Du Preez in Botswana and André Geldenhuys (20 points) in 10th place navigated for Kahlil Hussain (Class P) at the TGR 1000 Desert Race.
Consistency is the name of the game in the class championships and the battles are getting serious. With competitors also receiving an additional five points for starting a race and navigators swopping seats, the standings look somewhat different.
Three solid sets of results accompanied with good points ensure that Howes/Campbell are still in the lead in Class A (84 points) with Thomson/Zermatten (70 points) trailing them by 14 points. Du Preez (64 points), who made use of three different navigators including Vardy (42 points) are both third followed by Price Moor/Aiston (35 points) with Eugene Bierman/Pieter Visser (Bat Spec 2) fifth with 33 points.
The Class G championship has an interesting look with Moto-Netix Racing team-mates, Theron/Galvin, who are the leading Class G team in the overall standings and the Mostert duo currently sharing the same number of points (82) at the front of the Class G championship. Minnitt (78 points) is third in the Class G drivers followed by Van Rensburg (57) in fourth and Francois de Wit (27 points) who could also not complete the race in the desert with his navigator and brother, Neil, in fifth place.
Scheepers rounds off the Class G Navigators’ Championship podium (57 points) followed by Burke (50 points) and Gerhard Snyman (23) who sat next to Minnitt at the Sugarbelt 400. De Wit (22 points) is sixth with the rest of the teams still in the hunt for their first points of the season.
Lessing/Smith (32 points) are the Class P leaders followed by Hussain/Geldenhuys (29 points) and Grant Watkins/Mark Irvine (15 points) who only participated in the Sugarbelt 400 and won the class.
It is tight at the top and competitors aiming for the titles as well as for good positions overall and in the class championships, have their work cut out for them for the rest of the season. They will have another opportunity to add points to their scorecards on the weekend of 18 and 19 August when the SARRC travels to Parys for round four and five of the season.

Source: SARRC
IMAGES: PLAN C PRODUCTION

An extremely tough TGR 1000 Kalahari Botswana Desert Race produced new winners in the 2023 SA National Rally-Raid Championship and after the dust had settled and the championship points updated, the Production Vehicle Category shows new overall leaders. And with the halfway mark of the season in sight and with only small margins of points separating the teams from each other, an exciting second half of the championship is on the cards.
Ford made history when Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (Ford NWM Castrol Ranger T1+) won the marathon desert race in Botswana and after a disappointing outing for Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+), who went into the event as the Production Vehicle Category and FIA T1+ leaders, Woolridge/Dreyer pipped them to the post to become the new championship leaders.
Woolridge/Dreyer (86 points) lead Lategan/Cummings (71 points) by 15 points with Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+) keeping their third spot on the overall podium (68 points), trailing their team-mates by a mere three points. A third TGRSA team, Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (61 points) sticks to their fourth spot with only seven points separating them from their team-mates.
After a rocky start to the season, the runner-up result in Botswana for the second Ford NWM Castrol Ranger T1+ team of Lance Woolridge/Kenny Gilbert resulted in them jumping from 15th to fifth place overall (41 points). They are, however, only three points ahead of the new FIA T1 leaders, the defending champions Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid) who fill the sixth spot overall.
Basson/Pienaar are followed by two more T1 teams level pegging on points (26) with Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) moving up in the top 10 while Johan and Sean van Staden (Renault Duster) are now also in the top 10.
Johan and Werner Horn (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid T1+) are still ninth and round off the top 10. They have the same number of points (24) as Jayden Els (King Price Xtreme SVR) who are 10th overall. Els made use of two navigators at the Sugarbelt 400 with his regular navigator, Elvéne Vonk as well as her stand-in navigator in KZN, Henry Köhne, who usually reads the notes for Gary Bertholdt and Albertus Venter, who sits next to Chris Visser (Red-Lined REVO T1+) all with 21 points behind their names. Venter is 10th; Köhne is 11th and Vonk 12th overall of the navigators.
Looking at the class championships where competitors are rewarded with five points for starting an event, Gareth Woolridge/Dreyer have also taken the FIA T1+ lead (101 points). They are followed by three TGRSA teams with Lategan/Cummings (92 points) second; De Villiers/Murphy (83 points) third and Botterill/Vacy-Lyle (76 points) fourth, while Lance Woolridge/Gilbert jumped to fifth place (60 points). Bertholdt/Köhne are sixth (43 points) with the same amount of points as Dewald van Breda/Stompie Mynhardt (CR6) who missed the Sugarbelt 400 but finished in the top 10 in Botswana.
The Horn brothers fill the eighth spot (40 points) after an up and down season so far with Visser/Venter, who dropped from fifth to 11th place in the overall standings after not scoring points in Botswana, also dropping down in the FIA T1+ championship where they are ninth (37 points). Lance Trethewey/Adriaan Roets (King Price Xtreme Century Racing CR6) missed the desert race and are 10th (29 points).
The lead in the FIA T1 championship has changed for a third time after the first three events of the season with the defending champions, Basson/Pienaar (101 points) the new leaders. They have opened a 20 point gap over De Bruyn/Schutte (81 points) with Nic Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO), who could not earn points in Botswana, dropping from the lead to the third place on the T1 podium (68 points). Minimal points separate the four sets of competitors behind the two leading teams with the Van Staden father and son duo in fourth (67 points), only a single point further behind.
The musical chairs situation resulted in the standings behind them looking somewhat different. Els kept his fifth place in the T1 Drivers’ Championship (64 points), one point ahead of Fouché Blignaut (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid). Also in the top 10 are SARRC newcomer, Gerhard Heinlein (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) in seventh (28 points); the German driver, Daniel Schröder (Nissan Navara) is in eighth place (27 points) after only scoring points at the season opener; the Dutch teenager, Pim Klasssen (Red-Lined Motorsport VK50) in ninth (25 points) after his first outing on African soil and finishing the desert race and Jurgen Schröder (Nissan Navara), who missed the Botswana event, in 10th place (22 points).
In the T1 Navigator’s Championship, Bertus Blignaut, who sits next to his brother, Fouché, rounds off the top five (63 points) trailing Van Staden by only four points. Vonk lost out on points completing only half of the Sugarbelt 400 due to ill health and is currently sixth (55 points) followed by Rudi Heinlein (28 points) in seventh place; Ryan Bland, who reads the notes for Daniel, in eighth (27 points); Wade Harris. who guided young Klasssen to the finish in Botswana and earned 25 points and Stuart Gregory in 10th after earning 22 points navigating for Jurgen.
The Du Plessis father and son team of Hendrik and Heinrich (Ford Ranger) kept their lead in the Class T championship after also winning the class in Botswana. They have 54 points and have opened a gap of 25 points to the Johnstone couple, Bernard and Minette (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford Ranger) who have only competed in the TGR 1000 Desert Race so far this season. Schalk Burger/Henk Janse van Vuuren (King Price Xtreme VW Amarok), who won the class in KZN, round off the podium (22 points).
Toyota is the leading Manufacturers Championship (301 points) followed by Ford (164 points) and Nissan (83 points) with Century (38 points) in fourth; Renault (26 points); SVR (18 points) and Volkswagen (three points).
If the first three rounds of the 2023 SA National Rally-Raid season are anything to go by, the remaining four rounds will produce more nail-biting action. The fourth and fifth rounds in Parys takes place on 18 and 19 August and one can be sure that the horses will be let loose with strong bits between their teeth and an outcome that cannot be predicted.

Source SARRC
Images: Plan C Production

History was made at the 2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing 1000 Kalahari Botswana Desert Race, the third round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship that ended on Sunday in Jwaneng, after three days of extremely tough racing when Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer claimed the victory in their NWM Ford Castrol T1+ Ranger. When their team-mates, Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert finished second, the history books received another inscription.

Gareth and Lance, sons of Neil Woolridge who won the Toyota Desert Race in Botswana a total of three times including in a Ford Ranger in 2001, added their names to the list of winners while the victory drought for Ford, who last won in 2011, was broken.
Lance/Gilbert won the 61 kilometre Pirelli Qualifying Race on Friday, 23 June while Gareth/Dreyer were the winners of the second day and took the overall Production Vehicle Category victory as well as the FIA T1+ win after a grueling race that will be remembered as the ultimate test of man and machine.

After completing almost a thousand kilometres and racing for a total of 11 hours, 14 minutes and 33 seconds (Woolridge/Dreyer), only three minutes 42 seconds separated them from their team-mates with both teams having a relatively clean run on the final day.
They were joined on the podium by Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+) who started the final day from fourth position and arrived at the finish with a broken windscreen after hitting a vulture shortly after starting the second of the two 213 kilometre loops. Botterill/Vacy-Lyle trailed Woolridge/Gilbert by four minutes 37 seconds (11:22:52) and were followed by their team-mates and former winners, Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (11:39:23) who could not make up for the time lost due to electrical issues the previous day.

Fifth place overall belonged to an elated Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid) who won FIA T1 (11:53:01) after not too many issues along the way. They were followed by two more FIA T1 teams that also completed the T1 podium. Johan and Sean van Staden (Renault Duster) enjoyed an uneventful and trouble-free race to finish sixth (12:03:03) while the young Jayden Els (19) and Elvéne Vonk (King Price Xtreme SVR) jumped from 20th position on the first day to being 13th on the second day and finally finishing seventh and winning the coveted Road to Dakar Challenge despite some mechanical issues along the way.

Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined REVO) finished just off the T1 podium and were not too far behind in eighth place (12:19:30). Two more FIA T1+ teams rounded off the top 10 with Dewald van Breda/Stompie Mynhard finishing ninth (12:23:18) in their two-wheel drive CR6 while Gary Bertholdt ticked off yet another desert race finish, this time with navigator Henry Köhne (Renergen Toyota Hilux T1+) in a time of 12:39:52.

Two more FIA T1+ teams finished this extreme event although mechanical issues forced them to take time penalties to be able to fix their vehicles and continue with the race. The Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (#TeamHilux Toyota DKR T1+) were 13th in the category and seventh in class followed by Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+). It was another desert race with no luck for Lategan/Cummings who started the day in third place, but a broken driveshaft causing damage to the wheel bearings resulted in the team limping home in 14th place.

In FIA T1, the Blignaut brothers, Fouché and Bertus (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid) completed their first Desert Race in Botswana and did so finishing just outside the top 10 in 11th place and rounding off the top five in the class after rolling their vehicle in the qualifying race then having to battle from the back of the field on the second day.

The Dutch teenager, Pim Klassen and navigator Wade Harris (Red-Lined VK50) experienced gearbox failure on the second day of the race and started the final day from the back, but the team completed their maiden national SA Rally-Raid event and finished 15th overall. Their team-mates, Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein (VK56) also conquered the desert and were 16th despite a few mechanical issues.

Class T was won by Hendrik du Plessis and his son, Heinrich (Ford Ranger) with the team coming home in 12 place after their first attempt at the desert race in Botswana (12:55:45). The Johnstone couple, Bernard and Minette (Neil Woolridge Ford Ranger) showed real determination and overcame everything the desert race threw at them to finish second in class and 17th in the category. Schalk Burger/Henk Janse van Vuuren (King Price Xtreme VW Amarok) broke an input shaft some 90 kilometres before the finish and were among the teams who could not see out the distance.

The tough TGRSA 1000 Desert Race also claimed Red-Lined Motorsport teams Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (REVO T1+) and Nic Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (REVO) as well as Wors Prinsloo/André Vermeulen (Ford Ranger T1+) and the German driver, Daniel Schröder and Ryan Bland (Nissan Navara) in the Production Vehicle Category, while Saood Variawa/Danie Stassen (DKR Toyota Hilux T1+) were excluded on the last day after running in the top ten throughout the event. The team had an unfortunate coming together with Visser/Venter.
In the Special Vehicle Category, John Thomson and Maurice Zermatten came out tops with their Zarco Challenger winning the category and walking away with the Class A silverware after a solid performance during the three-day marathon. They finished the race in 13:01:52.

The Class A team shared the overall category podium with the winners of Class G, Geoff Minnitt/Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment Can-Am Maverick) who finished second overall (13:44:13) while the Class P winners, Quintin Lessing/Brendon Smith (CRT) rounded off the podium (14:25:18) after a problem-free and enjoyable race.

Also in the top five were Glen Theron/Craig Galvin (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) who were fourth while they claimed the second place in Class G (14:40:29). They were followed by Lood du Preez/Junior Vardy (Farmers Meat Stryker) who finished second in Class A.

After not being able to complete the race on the second day, Khalil Hussain/André Geldenhuys pushed hard on the final day to finish as the Class P runners-up when they brought their Sandmaster home in sixth place. They were followed by Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (BAT Spec 4) who managed to finish third in Class A. Youngster Ian Mostert and his experienced father as navigator, Werner (Moto-Netix Can-Am Maverick) were third in Class G.
The TGR 1000 Desert Race was described as tough and extremely challenging with a good mix of tight and bushy routes as well as fast, open sections. The competitors and teams were full of compliments for the organisers and by all accounts enjoyed the 2023 experience in Botswana.

Source: SARRC
Images: Plan C Productions

Lead car eliminated, but three strong Desert Race finishes

Red-Lined Motorsport was relieved to bring three of its five entries home in an extremely rough, tough and incredibly demanding Botswana Toyota 1000 Desert Race, and this after their lead car had been taken out by an unfortunate and unnecessary accident over the past weekend.

“That was an extremely tough race,” Red-Lined Motorsport team principal Terence Marsh pointed out. “Less than half the cars that started this event, finished in what proved to be a race of attrition. So we are happy to get three cars home in the end. It should really have been four finishers with two of these within the top 10 but we ended up losing out on a potential top 5 result due to a final loop accident.

“On the one hand, Johan de Bruyn and Gerhard Schutte propelled themselves into T1 class championship contention with an impressive fourth in class and eighth overall on their Botswana Desert 1000 debut. Our 18-year-old Red-Lined Academy driver Pim Klaassen impressed on his national debut alongside Wade Harris, and Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein delivered another steady performance to also finish their first Desert Race.

“The sad story however was Chris Visser and Albertus Venter’s Dragon Energy powered REVO T1+ being taken out on the final loop. They were badly rear ended while stationary at a mandatory road crossing stop. The impact destroyed the rear end of their race car and put an abrupt end to their top 5 charge.

“Nicolas Pienaar and Carl Swanepoel also endured a challenging weekend with their Super Energi powered REVO T1. Their race eventually came to an abrupt end on the final day when a high-speed puncture side tracked them into a concrete block, which tore left front wheel off their REVO.”

Johan de Bruyn and Gerhard Schutte were the best of the Red-Lined finishers in eighth overall and fourth in the FIA T1 class aboard their Red-Lined REVO T1. “We had a very good race,” Johan de Bruyn admitted. “It was a clean run besides the one puncture. This result sees us up to second in the T1 championship chase which ultimately was our target on my first time out in Botswana. So, all round a good outing on my Desert Race debut.”

Red-Lined Academy driver, Dutch teenager Pim Klaassen impressed as he overcame a few challenges to race home 6th in class and 20th overall on his Desert Race and South African Rally Raid debut aboard his DaklaPack Rallysport VK50. Father and son crew, Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein bounced back from a challenging Saturday to eventually finish 7th in class and 22nd overall after an otherwise untroubled race on their Desert Race debut aboard their Red-Lined VK56.

“While we are extremely disappointed with what happened to Chris Visser and Albertus Venter, let’s rather focus on the positives and salute our three pairings that managed to finish this incredibly tough event. Huge congratulations go to Johan and Gerhard, Pim and Wade, and Gerhard and Rudi on bringing it home in such technical and challenging terrain!” Terence Marsh explained.

“And as always, a really big shout out to our entire technical crew on another great performance in cold and demanding conditions. Now it is time to dust ourselves off and start gearing ourselves up for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Championship which takes place in Parys over the weekend of 18 and 19 August 2023.”

*Red-Lined Motorsport competes with premium strategic partners, the Penta Motor Group, BFGoodrich, Motul, Dragon Energy, OMP, ExpandaSign, Ingco Tools and Wheel Collision.

Source Red-Lined Motorsport via Motorsport Media