FACTORY TEAMS SET FOR BOTSWANA BATTLE Production Vehicle championship contenders Team Castrol Toyota will go from one pressure situation into a similar scenario at the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race from June 21 to 23. The race, the only marathon event on the calendar, is round four of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship, and has again been included in the Dakar Challenge for cars. This offers the winning crew a free entry to the 2014 Dakar Rally in South America with South Africa one of only four countries to be part of the event. The Botswana outing this year looks likely to produce another straight fight between the Team Castrol Toyota Hilux and Ford Racing factory teams. A year ago the Toyota squad ended a drought of more than a decade when South African champions Duncan Vos and Rob Howie finally cracked a win – but such is Toyota’s association with the event that the Team Castrol Toyota squad will always be under pressure in Botswana. Indicative of this the Castrol Toyota Team has been bolstered by the works rally pair Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee in a third Toyota Hilux. The ultra talented Poulter is no stranger to cross country racing, while Coetzee is the daughter of rally and cross country legend Kassie Coetzee who twice won the race for Toyota. Ford Racing Ranger pair Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, with a win and two seconds, head for Botswana with a 15 point cushion over Castrol Toyota pair Taylor and Murphy. With points and a half up for grabs it is not rocket science to work out that a good result, and vice versa, could have a huge bearing on the overall and premier Class SP championships over the rest of the season. The Castrol Toyota squad will be hoping the law of averages catches up with Visser and Badenhorst. For their part Ford Racing will be looking for another solid performance from the pair, and a return to form for team-mates Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable who, after winning the opening event of the season, have had two successive retirements. It is difficult to look past the factory teams for a winner, but the Toyota 1000 Desert Race has a habit of producing upset results. A string of privateer teams will relish taking on the big guns with a consistent start to the season taking North West pair Malcolm Kock and Johan Burger (Kock and Sons Toyota Hilux) into third place in the championship. Kock and Burger cut their racing teeth in conditions similar to those in Botswana, and the same applies to former champions Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux in another Toyota Hilux. This is a race that can be lost on the first day, but is invariably won on the final push for home on day three. Stiff challenges could also come from the Atlas Copco pairings of Gary Bertholdt/Siegfried Rousseau and the steady Johan van Staden and Mike Lawrenson who look to be finding their feet after a switch from the Special vehicle category. Berthold/Rousseau will be out in a new V8 powered Nissan Navara with their Toyota Hilux taken over by Sarel van Biljon and Phillip Herselman. The strong Regent Racing squad with a mixture of V8 and V6 powered Nissan Navaras will also be looking to mount a serious challenge this time around. The onslaught is led by Mike Whitehouse and Mathew Carlson and Terence Marsh/Gerhard Schutte with Thomas Rundle/Juan Mohr, Jurgen Schroder/Mike Abrahamson and Archie Rutherford and Donaldson chief executive officer Rob Simpson all top 10 candidates. After a disappointing start to the season Christiaan du Plooy and veteran stand-in navigator Hennie Ter Stege (RFS BMW X3) will want to turn potential into results and could finally end a dreadful run. A good outing in KwaZulu-Natal last time out will also have provided Hennie de Klerk and Johann Smalberger with a boost in the ex Hannes Grobler/Hennie ter Stege BMW X3 now racing in LA Sport colours. Other privateers who will be looking to see out the distance and pick up points include Free State crews Louw de Bruin/Riaan Greyling and Gerald le Roux/Hendrik Badenhorst in Ruwacon Ford Rangers, and Deon Venter and Ian Palmer in the Trysome Toyota Hilux. Hugo de Bruyn and Henri Hugo (Micaren Exel Toyota Hilux) ruffled a few feathers on the Toyota Dealer Sugarbelt 400 and will also fancy the conditions. It’s all change at the Uni Freight Ford team with farther Kobus van Tonder standing down as a driver and taking over team management duties. Son in law Freddie Kriel takes over the driving in the No 15 car with wife Sune alongside him, while the brother/sister combination of Jacques and Lizelle van Tonder will be out in the second Ford Ranger. Reliability experts Jack and Sarel Oosthuizen (LMC Land Rover) go to Botswana leading Class D after three successive finishes. They have a narrow lead over Jason Venter/Vincent van Allemann (Trysome Toyota Hilux) who kicked off the season with two wins. Also in the mix are Mpumalanga brothers Johan and Werner Horn in the Malalane Toyota Land Cruiser. The Oosthuizens cannot match Venter/van Allemann and the Horn brothers for pace, but sheer steadiness is not a bad thing on a race like this one. After 15 finishes in 16 starts Class E champions Dirk Putter and Koos Claasens finally fell by the wayside in KZN, handing a maiden win to Douglas Fear and Kurt de Villiers in the Brytons Removals Toyota Hilux. Putter and Claasens, back in a Ford Ranger, will be the outright favourites with a new experience waiting for Fear/de Villiers and Luke Botha and Kevin Durston in the Force Fuel Toyota Hilux. Race headquarters and the designated service point will again be at Kumakwane on the outskirts of Gaborone. The prologue on June 21 to determine race grid positions will start at 13:00 and the race at 08:30 on June 22 and 23. Follow the Donaldson Cross Country Championship action on: facebook/pages/Donaldson-Cross-Country-Motor-Racing-Championship/355722134547784 https://twitter/Donaldsonracing
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:15:54 +0000
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