The Blignaut brothers, Fouché and Bertus, posted the fastest time with their #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota DKR Hilux T1+ after the Castrol Qualifying Race as well as after Stage One of the Renault KEC 400 on Friday, 8 November and took the overall lead after the first day of the seventh and final round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship that takes place this weekend from Legends Adventure Farm Rhino Park in the Pretoria / Bronkhorstspruit area.
The short 19,73 kilometre Castrol Qualifying Race determined the starting order for the 76 kilometre Stage One where the Blignaut brothers were a mere second faster than Guy Botterill/Dennis Murphy (Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO) with their TGRSA team-mates, Giniel de Villiers/Elvéne Vonk a further five seconds behind in third place. The top five of the qualifying race was rounded off by the Dutch driver, Rients Hofstra and Wade Harris (Red-Lined REVO T1+ GTR) who were five seconds behind De Villiers/Vonk and two seconds ahead of the second #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota DKR T1+ team of Johan and Werner Horn.
Johan de Bruyn/Adriaan Roets (Red-Lined REVO T1) have thrown down the gauntlet in the Adventurer T1 championship by posting the fastest time in the class – they were 11th – and were followed by Dani Ludick/Denzil Williamson (Red-Lined VK56) who were 13th overall and Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt in a similar vehicle who were 15th.
In the SSV Class, former champion, Werner Mostert and Tim Botes (KEC Racing Can-Am Maverick) were fastest followed by the defending driver champion, Geoff Minnitt and Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment) and Ruperd Fourie/Morné van Rensburg.
The top ten fastest teams then drew for their starting positions in Stage One with the Blignaut brothers deciding to start further down in seventh position while the newly crowned overall champions, Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (TGRSA Toyota Hilux IMT EVO), who were 10th fastest, having to open the road. They were followed by Gary Bertholdt/Danie Stassen (Toyota DKR Hilux T1+); the outgoing champions, Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford Ranger T1+) and their team-mates, Lance Woolridge/Kenny Gilbert and the Horn brothers.
Stage One consisted of virgin terrain and Lategan/Cummings lost time opening the road while a broken front side-shaft forced them to continue in three-wheel drive. They had to settle for third place on the road with a total time of 01:22:53, a minute and 55 seconds behind the Blignaut pair whose combined time for the day was 01:20:58 despite two navigational errors. De Villiers/Vonk finished an uneventful day in second place on the road (01:21:06), a mere eight seconds behind the leaders.
De Villiers/Vonk and Botterill/Murphy are, however, not scoring points at the Renault KEC 400 as the two teams are testing for the upcoming Dakar Rally. With the two TGRSA teams out of the equation, Lategan/Cummings are therefore second in the overall standings after the first of the two days of the Renault KEC 400 with Woolridge/Gilbert third overall despite an unlucky situation with the bonnet of their vehicle flying open after a heavy landing and Gilbert having to do running repairs. They were a mere six seconds behind Lategan/Cummings and finished six seconds ahead of Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar, the outgoing Adventurer T1 champions who moved to the Ultimate T1+ Class. Bertholdt/Stassen rounded off the overall top five (01:24:19) after a solid performance.
Hofstra/Harris enjoyed the technical route and ended the day in sixth place, 38 seconds behind Bertholdt/Stassen with first-timer, Johannes Potgieter and veteran navigator, Carolyn Swan (SVR) in seventh place (01:25:29) after they qualified just outside the top 10 in 12th place.
The battle in the Adventurer T1 Class continued with the Heinlein pairing of Gerhard/Rudi (Red-Lined VK56) in the lead after the first day. They were eighth overall and their time of 01:28:04 was only 17 seconds quicker than Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt who completed the day second in class and ninth overall albeit only two seconds ahead of Lood du Preez/Juandre Kruger (Farmers Meat CR6) who were 10th and the first two-wheel drive vehicle.
A blanket of only 67 seconds covered the teams from eighth to 13th place with the German driver, Jϋrgen Schröder and Rikus Fourie (Nissan Navara VK50) finishing 11th overall (01:28:58), 12 seconds ahead of De Bruyn/Roets while the second Farmers Meat CR6 in the hands of Eugene Bierman/Chris Visser Jnr were 13th (01:29:11).
Ludick/Williamson finished 14th (01:30:16) and were followed by the four SSV teams with Minnitt/Burke in the lead (01:32:23), then Fourie/Van Rensburg (01:36:09) in 16th place and the two KEC Racing Can-Am Mavericks of Mostert/Botes (01:47:25) and the Rutherford brothers, Justin and Kent (01:58:14).
There was bad luck for the outgoing overall and Ultimate T1+ champions, Woolridge/Dryer, who ran into technical difficulties on Stage One and could not complete the first day while the Horn brothers suffered extensive damage after overshooting, ending their day in a ditch.
Other casualties included, event co-sponsor Johan and Sean van Staden (KEC Racing Renault Duster) who were side-lined by a faulty clutch with the King Price Xtreme team of Jayden Els/Johan Swemmer (Red-Lined REVO T1+ GTR), plagued by power-steering problems, while Schalk Burger/Armand du Toit in the King Price Xtreme VW Amarok endured fuel pressure issues.
The Renault KEC 400 will continue at 08:00 on Saturday, 9 November when the teams take on two stages of 175 kilometres each from Legends Adventure Farm.
The race can also be followed on the RallySafe App, available as a free download from the iStore and Google PlayStore or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarallyraidchampionship; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarallyraidchampionship/ and Twitter: @SACCS.Auto
Published by: SA Rally Raid Championship (Charmaine Fortune)
Photography by: Dave Ledbitter
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