Colin-on-Cars - Ford revved up for Eston encounter

Following a week of intense testing of its T1+ Ford Ranger in Morocco, Neil Woolridge Motors and the Ford Team are geared up for a good result on the Sugarbelt 400, the second round of the 2023 South African Rally Raid Championship (SARRC).

For the Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Castrol Team, the second round will be a crucial opportunity to make the most of the significant upgrades it has introduced on its class FIA T1+ EcoBoost V6-powered Ford Ranger, which is built at NWM’s facility just north of the race venue, in Pietermaritzburg.

Leading up to the Sugarbelt 400, NWM embarked on week-long in-depth testing and development program on the T1+ Ranger in Morocco with its global rally-raid partner, M-Sport.

“Our intensified testing program in conjunction with M-Sport started straight after the Desert Race last year, and has allowed us to accelerate the development of our T1+ Ranger well beyond what we could achieve on our own in South Africa,” says NWM team principal Neil Woolridge.

“At this stage we don’t have a large customer base of T1+ vehicles competing around the world as do some of our rivals do, so all of the information gleaned from these tests is invaluable in ramping up our development of the vehicle to ensure we extract the best possible performance and durability,” Woolridge says. 

“It was clear at this year’s opening SARRC race that we have the package to challenge for top results, and we are looking forward to making the most of all the hard work put into our T1+ Ranger at Eston, and for the rest of the season.”

Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (#277) are the top-placed NWM Ford Castrol crew after finishing second at the Nkomazi 400. The dynamic young team scored their first overall championship win at the final round of 2022, and they are eager to add more silverware to the trophy collection.

Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer

Team-mates Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert (#234) had their first outing together at the 2023 season-opener in the second NWM T1+ Ranger. They posted the second-fastest time during the qualifying sprint – despite it being motorcycle racer Gilbert’s first time in the navigator’s seat.

Unfortunately, a damaged hydraulic clutch pipe halted their progress on the first race loop and forced them to retire, so their objective for the Sugarbelt 400 will be to secure maximum points to kickstart their 2023 championship challenge.

On the privateer front, the NWM-supported crew of Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen (#241) surprised many of the top competitors by finishing ninth overall in the T1+ category, and seventh amongst the four-wheel drive cars in their first national race with the T1+ NWM Ford Ranger.

Having raced the Class T NWM Ranger V8 previously, the team is on a fast learning curve getting to grips with the exceptional performance of their new T1+ Ranger, and learning just how hard they can push it in the roughest terrain – and they are sure to be a regular feature in the top 10 results.

The Sugarbelt 400 is well known for its spectacular scenery, set in the mountains and lush green sugarcane plantations surrounding Eston. The event is based at the Beaumont Eston Farmer’s Club which serves as the race headquarters, designated service park and start-finish.

The action commences on Friday 12 May at 12:30 with the short 52km Pirelli Qualifying Race, which determines the starting order for the main race on Saturday. Adding some strategic thinking to the mix, the top 10 teams will draw their starting positions from slowest to fastest, which always adds a dash of intrigue.

On Saturday, the crews will complete two loops of 160km each, starting at 08:00 and separated by a compulsory 30-minute service stop. Spectators have access to numerous viewing points located along the route to see the cars in action, along with free entry to the service park.

Fans can also follow all the action and track the position of the crews throughout each of the 2023 season’s seven races using the RallySafe app, which can be downloaded free of charge for iOS and Android devices from the relevant app stores.

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Colin-on-Cars - Proudly SA Hilux 164 km away from victory as bike lead changes

Dakar's penultimate day of racing around the Arabian Desert town of Bisha was static among the cars. Carlos Sainz took Audi’s fourth stage as overall leader Nasser Al Attiyah guarded his 28 minute lead over Sebastien Loeb into the final day.

Nasser Al-Attiyah guarding his precious lead

But the bike race was dramatic.

Minutes

The virtual overall lead changed twice within a matter of minutes as Sam Sunderland stormed ahead, only to be pipped at the post by Kevin Benavides in the day’s final sector. Sunderland however re-took the overall lead with just 164 km left to race.

Sam Sunderland

Sainz, who complained about his Audi Sport RS Q e-tron’s lack of parity before the race, and and Lucas Cruz took command of the day from the outset.

Future

Far from a lack, his pace was instead ominous for the future as he duly powered to his 42nd and the revolutionary petrol-electric machine’s second stage win on the trot. It was also Audi's fourth win in its maiden Dakar and a positive sign for the team for the future, considering the new car had never raced before.

Carlos Sainz

Luciano Alvarez and Armand Monelon’s Toyota Hilux was best of the rest ahead of ever consistent rookie Audi crew Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist. Nani Rome and Alex Haro’s BRX Hunter, Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy’s Gazoo Hilux and Stephane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger’s Audi followed.

Next came overall leaders, Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Proudly South African Hilux. They took advantage of rivals Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s Hunter's slow final sector to open their overall lead to over 33 minutes. Which includes a bonus 5 minutes after Loeb suffered a liaison speeding penalty.

Fifth

It was a good day for de Villiers and Murphy, who moved back into fifth overall behind Saudi home hero Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr’s Hilux, and Orlando Terranova and Daniel Carreras' BRX Hunter.

Giniel De Villiers

Fellow South Africans, Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s Gazoo Hilux in 12th and Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s SA built Century CR6 provisionally 13th also had positive runs, as they continued in their fight over 14th overall.

It was less successful for Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings. They had to stop to remedy an issue on the fourth Gazoo Hilux and were running 43rd behind the Centuries of compatriots Chris Visser and Rodney Burke, and Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne at the time of writing.

Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren followed in 50th, while SA navigators, Taye Perry was 35th, reading notes in Cyril Despres’ Peugeot and Ryan Bland 44th alongside Daniel Schroeder in their SA-built Red-Lined VK50.

Dramatic

The bike race began in dramatic fashion. A disastrous start saw overnight leader, Adrien van Beveren’s Yamaha lose 15 minutes in the first sector. That allowed quickest man through, Matthias Walkner’s KTM to move into the overall lead.

But only until Sam Sunderland checked through and moved ahead on his Gas Gas. So Sunderland led the day and overall. But it was not to be. Reigning champion Kevin Benavides had taken his joker to rejoin after retiring with a broken engine on his KTM, and pip Sunderland by 4 seconds.

Joaquin Rodrigues' Hero was third home ahead of Walkner and Honda trio Ricky Brabec, Pablo Quintanilla and Jose Cornejo Florimo. All of them started well outside of the top ten on a day that punished the front runners.

The first four away, Toby Price’s KTM ended up 28th, Luciano Benavides’ Husqvarna 26th, Juan Barreda’s Honda 21st and overnight leader van Beveren 15th. And while he led Sunderland, Quintailla and Walkner at the outset, it was all change as Sundeland led Quintailla, Walkner and van Beveren by the end of play.

Service

Bradley Cox was best of the South Africans in 20th on his KTM and Aron Mare's Hero 25th. Original no service class quartet, Charan Moore was 40th and 4th in class, Botswana’s John Kelly 51st overall and 8th in Original, Stuart Gregory 86th and 18th in class and Werner Kennedy 97th overall and 22nd in Original.

Swaziland’s Walter Terblanche was still running 88th and Mozambican Paulo Oliveira 120th. Mare starts the final day 16th, Cox 35th, Moore 34th, Kelly 45th and Gregory 64th.

Dominant quad leader Alex Giroud cruised through the stage as Marcelo Medeiros took another stage win over the seven remaining riders. UTV leader Seth Quintero won the day and side-by-side leader Austin Jones was controlling his position running fourth on the day.

Truck leader Sotnikov shadowed teammates Karginov and Nikolaiev in yet another dominant Kamaz 1-2-3. All that remains after 3,830 km of racing in Dakar 2022, is the final 164 run to Jeddah on Friday. But remember, Dakar is never over, 'til it’s over! 

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Dakar 2022 Daily News

For further information please contact info@motorsportmedia.co.za

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 Hot racing action for East London's historic circuit

The lockdown blues are coming to an end in East London with the resumption of the ultra-competitive Polo Cup and SupaCup at the historic Grand Prix circuit in the city of East London? In the form of Potter’s Pass and Rifle bend, the circuit boasts with two of the fastest corners in South African motor sport that are renowned for sorting the men from the boys. 

“We are very excited to finally resume the 2021 racing season, and we can’t think of a better backdrop than the famed circuit in East London,” commented Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “It’s been nearly three months since we last saw racing, so I’m sure that all the competitors in both the highly competitive Polo Cup as well as the very popular SupaCup series can’t wait to resume their respective championship battles.”

 

The battle at the top of the Polo Cup championship points table has been the one to watch, and is set to continue this coming weekend. The three previous rounds were earmarked by exceptionally good and clean racing between youngster Leyton Fourie and Arnold Neveling with Fourie currently topping the points ladder with a tally of 123 points, courtesy of two race wins and a few bonus points for setting the fastest lap on three occasions.

Neveling, who also tasted victory twice has amassed 120 points so far and with 20 points available for each win, one can be assured that these two will throw all caution to the wind this coming Saturday. And they won’t be the only ones gunning for glory. Capetonian Jurie Swart, currently on 110 points is well within striking distance, and so is Clynton Bezuidenhout, just a further 5 points adrift. 

“There is no doubt that this weekend’s racing will play a massive role in the final outcome of the championship,” added Rowe. “These drivers have all to play for and the format on Saturday will see three races instead of the usual two. With that many points on offer, Saturday’s winner will take a big step towards earning one of the most coveted titles in motorsport.”

 

The standings in the very competitive SupaCup category of the Global Touring Cars series (GTC) are even closer, as there are no points separating defending champion Bradley Liebenberg and Volkswagen Motorsport’s Jonathan Mogotsi at the top of the points table. Liebenberg has stood on the top step of the podium on three occasions so far in 2021, but a non-finish three months ago at the Aldo Scribante circuit in Gqeberha saw him lose valuable points. 

Mogotsi on the other hand claimed his maiden victory in the same race, meaning that the duo are now tied on 95 points apiece. And they won’t have it their own way either as Jeffrey Kruger and youngster Saood Variawa will have every intention to join the battle. These two are currently sitting on 79 and 76 points respectively with Jason Campos also still within striking distance. 

“To see a full field of SupaCup Polos going flat out through Potter’s Pass and Rifle will be quite a sight. It’s a pity that there won’t be any official spectators due to the pandemic, but fans across the country can follow all of the action on our various social media platforms,” concluded Rowe.