Wet and wild Parys 400 delivers new Rally-Raid champion

The Parys 400, the seventh and final round of the 2022 South African Rally-Raid Championship, that took place on Saturday, turned out to be one of the year’s most challenging events.

Torrential rain and a flooded route resulted in changes to the race that was the final title decider of the season.

With Round Six the previous day already shortened to a 12 kilometre Pirelli Qualifying Race and one 98 kilometre loop, the final championship decider on Saturday followed after more torrential rain that drenched the route.

Conditions made it almost impossible to race, and the organisers had no choice but to shorten the race distance for the final event to a 12 kilometre qualifier and an 86 kilometre loop, which included a 16 kilometre de-controlled section.

Only 27 starters in the Production and Special Vehicle Categories started Saturday’s event.

Eventually, the overall victory and FIA T1+ went to Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (Castrol Ford Ranger T1+) who edged out Giniel de Villiers/Rodney Burke (Gazoo Racing Toyota DKR Hilux T1+), but the runner-up result was enough for De Villiers to claim the overall and FIA T1+ titles.

The third place went to Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) who were the FIA T1 victors. It was a tight battle at the front with a mere 98 seconds separating the first four teams at the finish.

Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Gazoo Racing Toyota DKR Hilux T1+) finished fourth overall and third in FIA T1+ while the FIA T1.2 victory went to the newly-crowned class champions, Lance Trethewey/Leonard Cremer (King Price Xtreme Century CR6) who were fifth.

The Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (Toyota #TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR Hilux T1+), finished sixth overall followed by Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined Nissan Navara) .

The new FIA T1 champions, Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (Toyota #TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR Hilux T1+) were eighth, rounding off their season on the third step on FIA T1 podium.

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Thomas Bell/Wade Harris brought their Red-Lined Motorsport REVO home in ninth, just ahead of their team-mates, Philip Botha/Roelof Janse van Vuren (Nissan Navara) who completed their SARRC season with yet another finish to keep their scorebook unblemished.

There were also finishes and points in the bag for Nicolas Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Super Energi Race Fuels Red-Lined Nissan Navara) who were 12^th.

In the Special Vehicle Category, Trace Price Moor/Shaun Braithwaite (TipTop Milk BAT Venom) took the overall and Class A victory, with Lood du Preez/ Chris Visser Jnr (Farmers Meat Stryker) finishing second overall and in Class A.

It was another real challenge for the open-wheel vehicles in Class A, Class P and Class G in the treacherous conditions with these vehicles not having the luxury of a windscreen, wipers and windows.

After making their SARRC debut at Round Six of the Parys 400 the previous day and finishing third in Class G, Gideon Jacobs/Richard Vardy Jnr (Moto-Netix Can-Am Maverick) took it one step further to claim the top step of the Class G podium and finished second overall in the Special Vehicle Category.

They were followed by team-mates, Glen Theron/Craig Galvin with the outgoing Class G champions, Cecil and Elardus Larney, rounding off the class podium and finishing fourth overall.

The 2022 Parys 400 will be remembered as the wettest race in almost two decades. It was more than likely the first time in the history of the modern racing series that organisers were forced into the extreme changes to the race and routes.

Although it was a challenging way to round off the 2022 South African Rally-Raid Championship, it definitely added to a highly successful and memorable season.