The Motorite BAT Viper crew won the special vehicle category at the opening round of the national series, the RFS Endurance, in Harrismith over the weekend of 28 and 29 March.
Hutchison and Stassen overcame often treacherous conditions to eventually become overall Special Vehicle and Class A winners ahead of Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt in the LTE BAT Venom.
The final margin between the two cars was a comprehensive 00:5:57 with the Motorite crew taking control on the first of the 251km laps that made up the race.
“We could not have asked for a better start to a championship campaign, but it was a very difficult weekend. An early championship win always provides you with a major boost, and we will carry a lot of confidence into the rest of the season,” said Hutchison.
“The new endurance format with a 196km qualifying race and 500km of racing meant it was always going to be a tough weekend and wet, muddy and slippery conditions provided for additional challenges.”
The qualifying race to determine grid positions saw Hutchison and Stassen finish 00:1:50 behind Century Racing CR3’s Colin Matthews and Rodney Burke. The Motorite pair, in turn, were 00:03:45 clear of Coetzee and Sandra Labuscagne (ChemSystems Porter) and nearly five minutes clear of Trethewey and Minnitt.
“The qualifying race was one of the toughest days I have spent in a race car,” said Hutchison.
“Finding and staying on the right route was not easy, and we kept swapping positions with Matthews/Burke and Trethewey/Minnitt. Danie and I took a little time to get our rhythm and the end result. Although it had been a frustrating day, it wasn’t too bad.”
Matthews and Burke were caught and passed on the first lap, and this put Hutchison and Stassen into the race lead. Coetzee Labuscagne and Sarel van Biljoen hit trouble and at the compulsory 20 minute service halt at the end of the loop, Hutchison and Stassen had a 00:03:43 advantage over Trethewey and Minnitt.
“It was an interesting and technical route, and by the second lap it had started to dry up, but there were wet and slippery patches that could easily catch you out,” said Hutchison.
The biggest scare for the Motorite team, however, came 140 kilometres into the route when the car suddenly cut out.
“There were no warning signals, the engine just suddenly cut out,” said Hutchison.
“We spent a few tense moments before the engine restarted, and we were a little apprehensive when we started racing again. Fortunately, the car ran like clockwork to the end, and we have no idea what caused the engine to suddenly cut out.”
Over the last lap, the Motorite crew gradually edged away from Trethewey and Minnitt, and were more than 50 minutes ahead of third placed Jimmy Zahos and Zaheer Bodhanya in the Cobalt Stryker. The tough route and the tricky conditions took a heavy toll on competitors, with only seven special vehicle entries making it to the finish.
“With a mixture of sprint and endurance races and the marathon event in Botswana, it is going to be an interesting season,” said Hutchison.
“We have got just the sort of start we wanted, and now the task is to maintain the momentum in terms of both pace and reliability.”
The next event is the Sugarbelt 450 sprint race at Eston, outside Pietermaritzburg, on 8 and 9 May.
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