The Toyota Gazoo Racing SA (TGRSA) 1000 Desert, the second round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship that took place over three days from 24 to 26 June in the Upington area in the Northern Cape, has a new inscription on the winners’ trophy with Giniel de Villiers and navigator, Dennis Murphy (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA DKR Hilux T1+) winning this gruelling marathon event after leading from start to finish.
The experienced De Villiers/Murphy combination added a third desert race victory to their previous two, with the pair also victorious at the Toyota Kalahari 1000 Desert Race in Botswana in 2017 and 2018. This year they led the race from the 43km Pirelli Qualifying Race on Friday, 24 June that was followed by the 171km Loop One while they also posted the best result on Saturday, 25 June over a distance of 342km.
On the final day Sunday, 26 June the team had to open the road on a different 160km loop that proved to be quite tricky and after completing the loop twice and without any incidents except a “minor altercation with a gate post”, the pair brought their Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR Hilux T1+ home safely to take the overall race victory as well as the Production Vehicle Category and class wins.
There was no margin for error for De Villiers/Murphy as their team-mates, Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle, were only a few minutes behind them during the race. The multiple SA National Rally Champions kept it together to finish second overall and in the FIA T1+ Class with only three minutes and 34 seconds separating the two teams after racing for almost nine hours and 880 kilometres over the three days in the desert.
The event sponsor was awarded with yet another team on the overall podium - Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen, brought their TGRSA DKR Hilux T1+ home in third place after a consistent run albeit almost 13 minutes further back. The defending desert race champions, Brian Baragwanath/Leonard Cremer (Century Racing CR6) started the final day from third position with a fighting chance for another victory, but lost time when they hit a rock and broke a bolt on the front wheel. They won the FIA T1.2 Class for 2x4 vehicles but dropped off the podium and finished fourth overall, less than a minute behind Variawa/Stassen.
The Horn brothers, Johan and Werner, rounded off the overall top five after their first outing in the #TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR T1+. Their incident-free final day and a smooth run was only marred by a flat tyre six kilometres before the finish. Lance Trethewey/Rodney Burke (King Price Xtreme Century Racing CR6) bagged the silverware for finishing second in the FIA T1.2 Class and were sixth overall despite having two punctures on the final day on a route Trethewey, who won the Special Vehicle Category last year, called ‘intricate, but most enjoyable’.
The French team of Yannick and Valerie Panagiotis rounded off the FIA T1.2 Class and were seventh overall while they won the Road to Dakar challenge and a free entry into the 2023 Dakar Rally. Another international entry, Daniel Schröder and South African navigator, Ryan Bland (Nissan Navara) had a solid performance throughout the race to win the FIA T1 Class ahead of Philip Botha/Roelof Janse van Vuren (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) with the two T1 teams finishing eighth and 10th overall respectively.
Sandwiched between the two T1 teams, were Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (NWM Ford Castrol Ranger T1+) who had to push hard during the second and third day after losing heaps of time and positions with a burst oil cooler on the first day. The team finished fifth in FIA T1+ after a drive that saw them overtaking almost two thirds of the field.
The second of two more Team Hilux Rally-Raid vehicles, with newcomers Fouche and Bertus Blignaut, was just outside the overall top 10 in 11th place overall. The brothers finished on the podium after their very first race and were third in the FIA T1 Class despite putting their vehicle on its roof on Saturday. They echoed the experience of fellow competitors after the race, as an immensely enjoyable outing.
Team mates Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar suffered multiple punctures during the race, but persevered to finish 13th overall and fourth in FIA T1.
The two Team Hilux Rally-Raid teams flanked the Class T winner, the 17 year-old scholar, Jayden Els and his navigator, Armand du Toit (King Price Xtreme Renault Duster) who grabbed the class lead on the first day and worked hard to hold on to it to the end. The rest of the Class T podium consisted of Johan and his son, Sean van Staden (KEC Racing Renault Duster) who could not finish the first day and overcame a problematic event to finish second in the class with Christo Rose/Arno Olivier (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford Ranger) third.
Gary Bertholdt/Juan Möhr (Toyota Hilux) had a seesaw event including not finishing the qualifier on Friday. The experienced duo were eventually 14th overall and fifth in FIA T1. Three more teams finished the race in T1 with Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) 15th overall and sixth in class, after numerous punctures on Saturday while their team-mates, the Dubai competitor, Thomas Bell with SA navigator, Wade Harris, finished last after they damaged and fixed the suspension on their REVO on the final day of the event.
Jürgen Schröder/Michael Abramson (Nissan Navara) finished an eventful desert race just ahead of Bell/Harris while the second French couple, Jerome/Anne Galpin (Century Racing CR6) were 18th overall and fourth in the FIA T1.2 Class.
The last day saw the demise of Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (TGRSA DKR Hilux T1+) who started the second day from the back of the field after they damaged their vehicle during the qualifying race when they hit a rock and could not complete the section. They tested new parts on the final day, but were forced to retire after they broke the suspension when they hit a rock.
Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) also retired on the second day with suspension damage and had a good run on Day Three before they had to call it a day due to a mechanical issue. Other major casualties included Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit (Century Racing CR6) who were eigth after day two, but they lost fuel pressure while a nut broke off a front wheel hub forcing them to retire.
There was also disappointment for Malcolm Kock/Jaco van Aardt (JCP Steel Supplies Century Racing CR6) who were ninth after Day Two, but could not finish on the final day while their team-mates, Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne, had a troubled event and retired on the last day when their vehicle developed an oil leak. Lance Woolridge/Elvéne Vonk (NWM Ford Castrol Ranger T1+) retired on the second day with engine trouble.
The 2022 TGRSA 1000 Desert was an event for the books, with a damp route that challenged the teams with rocky and sandy sections while the competition was extremely tough. International and local competitors agreed however, that it was yet again, a most enjoyable event.
Source SARRC
Photos: Andre Schoeman
