Recap: Rally-Raid Championship saga so far after round 1

With the dust of the Nkomazi 400, the opening round of the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship, now settled, the points scored in both the production and special vehicle categories predict a brilliant season.

Production vehicles

In the production vehicle category, the Nkomazi victory resulted in Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR Hilux T1+) leading the overall standings on 30 points.

They lead Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (NWM Ford Castrol Ranger T1+) by seven points, and are 12 points ahead of their Toyota Gazoo teammates, Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (18 points).

The third Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux of Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle trail De Villiers/Murphy by three points, while Red-Lined Motorsport’s Chris Visser/Albertus Venter stand on 12 points after a trouble-free debut for the new Red-Lined Revo T1+.

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Only four points cover the next five teams in the top 10. Lance Trethewey/Adriaan Roets (King Price Xtreme CR6) are sixth (10 points), followed by two Red-Lined Motorsport teams; Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Revo) on 9 points and Nic Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Revo) with 8 points.

Defending T1 champions, Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (Toyota #TeamHilux) are ninth (7 points) and the T1 newcomers, Johan and Sean van Staden (KEC Renault Duster) 10^th with 6 points.

At the Nkomazi 400, Red-Lined Motorsport was the most represented vehicle manufacturer with 27% of the race cars from their stable.

It is, however, Toyota who lead the manufacturers standings with 73 points. Ford is second (33 points) followed by Nissan (27 points), Century (14 points) and Renault (6 points).

Special vehicles

In the special vehicle category, an overall win for the defending champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (Timdrew Property Developments BAT Spec 4) put them firmly at the front of the standings with 30 points.

They lead three Class G teams competing with Can-Am Mavericks. Ian and Werner Mostert (Moto-Netix Racing) are second overall (23 points) while their teammates, Glen Theron/Craig Galvin are third overall (18 points).

Ewald van Rensburg/Johan Scheepers (15 points) fill the fourth spot with Lood du Preez/Rikus Hattingh (Farmers Meat Stryker) fifth (12 points).

Next round

The second round of the 2023 South Africa Rally-Raid Championship, the Sugarbelt 400, takes place on 12 and 13 May in the Eston and Illovo areas of KwaZulu-Natal.