Free State preparing itself for penultimate Rally-Raid romp

The sixth and penultimate round of the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship will take place in the Free State this weekend, with the Renergen 400 to be based at the Phakisa Raceway near Welkom.

The event will see teams take on a total of just over 400 kilometres over the two days on two separate racing sections.

A total of 73 kilometres awaits them on Friday, 6, followed by a 328 kilometre section on Saturday, which will comprise a 164 kilometre loop to be tackled twice.

Production vehicles

Only 10 points separate the top four teams in the Overall Production Vehicle Championship.

Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (NWM Ford Castrol Ranger T1+) will lead the title chase, pursued by the three Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR Hilux T1+ teams of Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings, Giniel de Villiers/ Dennis Murphy and Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle.

ALSO READ: Drought over as Ford clinches 1-2 in Botswana desert

Chasing the front group should be teams like Saood Variawa/Danie Stassen (Toyota Gazoo DKR Hilux T1+), Lance Woolridge/ Kenny Gilbert (NWM Ford Castrol Ranger T1+), Gary Bertholdt/Henry Köhne (Renergen Toyota Hilux T1+), the Horn brothers, Johan and Werner, plus their Toyota #TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR T1+ teammates, the Blignaut brothers, Fouche and Bertus.

Red-Lined Motorsport will be represented by Dutch couple, Dave Klaassen and Tessa Rooth (RevoT1+).

Brian Baragwanath/Leonard Cremer will debut the new twin-turbo, four-wheel-drive Century Racing CR7, while Lance Trethewey/Adriaan Roets (King Price Xtreme Century Racing CR6) is the leading two-wheel-drive team in FIA T1+.

In FIA T1, defending champions Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (Toyota #TeamHilux Rally-Raid) will face off against Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined Revo T1) plus Johan and Sean van Staden (Renault Duster).

Behind them Jurgen Schröder/Max Bergman (Nissan Navara) will have to deal with Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein (Red-Lined Revo), Rients Hofstra, Wade Harris (Red-Lined Revo) and Schalk Burger/ Henk Janse van Vuuren (King Price Xtreme Volkswagen Amarok).

Special vehicles

Class A in the Special Vehicle Category has only received three entries. Defending champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (BAT Spec 4) will be chased by John Thomson/Maurice Zermatten (Zarco Challenger), plus Keith and Andrew Makenete (BAT).

Quintin Lessing will have Patrick Dodon next to him in the Class P Century CRT and will aim to keep his lead on his way to securing the drivers’ title in the class while good points can result in Grant Watkins/Mark Irvine (Zarco) moving into the runner-up position in the class standings.

Class G

A real battle can be expected between the Can-Am Maverick teams in Class G where 12 points cover the podium teams.

Geoff Minnitt /Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment) will be challenged by Moto-Netix teams, Glen Theron/Craig Galvin and the Mostert family as defending champions – the scholar, Ian Mostert will be aiming for his first title under the watchful eye of his dad, Werner as navigator.

Another win and more silverware will also be perfect for Ewald van Rensburg/Johan Scheepers who are currently fourth in the standings.

Times

The Renergen 400 will get underway at 10:15 on Friday (6 October), with a 15 kmPirelli Qualifying Race to determine the starting order for Loop 1 that will start at 13h15.

At 08h00 on Saturday (7 October), teams will come under starter’s orders for the first of the two 164 km loops that will be separated by a compulsory 30 minute service break.

All the action will start and finish at the Phakisa Raceway where Race Headquarters as well as the Designated Service Point will be situated.

The Renergen 400 can be followed on the RallySafe App available for download from the iStore and Google PlayStore or on Facebook: saccsauto; Instagram: saccs_auto and X: @SACCS.Auto.

NOW READ: Sugarbelt 400: Two from two for Lategan, Cummings and Toyota