The #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Bronkhorstspruit, the third round of the 2022 South African Rally-Raid Championship that takes place on 19 and 20 August in the Bronkhorstspruit area, will produce lots of action as various battles in the overall Production Vehicle Category as well as the various class championships will keep everyone on their toes.
With the year past the halfway mark, but only two rounds of the championship ticked off so far, anything can still happen – and probably will.
The season has seen two different winners after the first two events of the season with a third team leading the overall standings.
The defending champions, Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR Hilux T1+) claimed the victory at the Mpumalanga 400 at Dullstroom with their team-mates, Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy bagging lots of points after winning the TGRSA 1000 marathon event.
Lategan/Cummings could, however, not finish the desert race and with two solid podium results, another TGRSA DKR Hilux T1+ team, Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen, will go to Bronkhorstspruit as the overall Production Vehicle Championship leaders.
This scenario will add to the pressure on all three teams with a fourth TGRSA DKR Hilux T1+ team, the multiple SA National Rally champions, Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle, also meaning business as they are currently third in the overall standings with only a handful of points separating the teams.
To add to the mix, the event sponsors, #TeamHilux Rally-Raid, will have three teams in the field with the Horn brothers, Johan and Werner, also competing in the FIA T1+ class and a good result will go down well in the record books.
The two NWM Ford Castrol T1+ Rangers in the hands of the Woolridge brothers, Lance/Elvéne Vonk and Gareth/Boyd Dreyer, have a few scores to settle.
Gareth/Dreyer have completed both events so far this season and are between the leaders while Lance/Vonk will be hoping to get the monkey off their back and score their first points.
The fact is the standings in the FIA T1+ class championship are looking somewhat different as De Villiers/Murphy are leading Variawa/Stassen with Botterill/Vacy-Lyle third and it is battles like this that will add yet another dimension to the race. (The FIA T1+ points are still provisional.)
Steady performances including winning the FIA T1 class at the season opener, resulted in the #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota Hilux team of Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar leading the class and although they have a small breathing space to the rest, they can by no means relax.
The team will again see the Blignaut brothers of Fouche and Bertus going for more points albeit only competing in their second national event.
Only three points separate the three teams behind the FIA T1 leaders and a shuffle in the standings after the Bronkhorstspruit event, is quite possible.
The experienced team of Gary Bertholdt/Juan Möhr (Toyota Hilux) is currently second followed by Philip Botha/Roelof Janse van Vuren (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) and the German driver, Daniel Schröder with KZN navigator, Ryan Bland in the WCT Engineering prepared Nissan Navara.
The rest of the hungry pack that will be chasing for victory, the podium and good results, includes three Red-Lined Motorsport teams.
Veteran driver, Chris Visser and Albertus Venter would like to show what they can do with their Red-Lined Motorsport REVO while their team-mates, Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined VK56) as well as the international pairing of Dave Klaassen/Tessa Rooth, will be competing in their second event on South African soil and regular Dubai visitor, Thomas Bell/Wade Harris (REVO) will also be in action again.
Nicolas Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Super Energi Race Fuels) will be putting their Red-Lined VK56 through its paces for the first time in the SA Rally-Raid Championship.
The #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Bronkhorstspruit will hopefully be a good event for teams like Hennie de Klerk/Adriaan Roets (TreasuryOne VW Amarok); Schalk Burger/Henk Janse van Vuuren (King Price Xtreme Mercedes Benz) and Richard Leeke/Zaheer Bodhanya (Leeke Motorsport).
The new FIA T1.2 class for 2wd vehicles brims with entries that include two more international teams to add to the international flavour of the #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Bronkhorstspruit.
Two French teams will make their debut in SA with a Century Racing CR6 T Audi Turbo while the Galpin pairing of Jerome and Maxime will tackle the event in their Century Racing CR6.
These teams will be joined by the class leader, Brian Baragwanath who just missed out on an overall podium at the recent desert race in Upington, with Rodney Burke in the navigator’s seat.
Also back for more points is Lance Trethewey, now partnered by Baragwanath’s team mate and navigator, Leonard Cremer (King Price Xtreme Century Racing CR6) while JCP Steel Supplies team-mates, Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne and Malcolm and Frans Kock as well as Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit in similar CR6 vehicles, will be looking for their first points in the category this season.
An interesting entry in the FIA T1.2 class, is the WCT Engineering HT2 Toyota Hilux Turbo 2wd vehicle that will be in the hands of the adventure athlete, Simon Murray with former SA Rally champion, Megan Verlaque, reading the notes while the creator of the vehicle and regular co-driver, Achim Bergmann, is away for the Swiss Epic cycle race.
The young Jayden Els, who just turned 18 and navigator, Armand du Toit (King Price Xtreme Renault Duster) won Class T at the recent desert race in Upington and took the lead in Class T.
They will be chased by the experienced Johan van Staden and his son, Sean (KEC Racing Renault Duster) who will be looking to give Lady Luck a ride for better luck as well as the Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford Ranger team of Christo Rose/Arno Olivier.
The #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Bronkhorstspruit will start at 12:00 on Friday, 19 August with a short 15km Pirelli Qualifying Race at the Soetdoring Restaurant on the outskirts of the town where the Start/Finish, Race Headquarters as well as the Designated Service Park (DSP) will be situated.
The results of the 15km racing section will determine the starting order for the 83km Loop One when the flag drops 14:00. The race will continue on Saturday morning at 08:00 with teams taking on the first of two 160km loops according to the results of the previous day.
There will be a compulsory 30 minute service break at the DSP between the two loops.
Spectators will be treated to an action packed race in the Bronkhorstspruit area and can also follow the event on the RallySafe App that can be downloaded free of charge from the iStore and Google Play Store.
