A free entry into the 2018 Dakar Rally is again the prize for a privateer team in this year’s Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race. The race is round three of the South African Cross Country Series (SACCS) for Auto and incorporates the Dakar Challenge which is the gateway for a free entry into next year’s South American classic.
Hennie de Klerk
While the factory Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team has racked up an impressive record on the Dakar Rally with regular podium, top five and top 10 finishes privateer South African teams have produced a mixed bag of results.
The first Dakar Challenge held as part of the Desert Race was in 2012 when multiple South African champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen, in a Motorite BAT, took the overall honours ahead of Christiaan du Plooy and Henk Janse van Vuuren in the RFS BMW X3. When Hutchison and du Plooy were unable to make the trip to South America, third placed Johan van Staden and Mike Lawrenson stepped into the breach.
Van Staden and Lawrenson were entered in a T1 KEC McRae MC-4RS that was similar to the Special Vehicle Class the pair campaigned in the South African championship. The MC4 was powered by a three litre turbo BMW engine with similar running gear to South African championship vehicles, but unfortunately for van Staden and Lawrenson they never saw out the distance.
The 2014 Dakar saw two South African crews in action with Thomas Rundle and Juan Mohr, winners of the Dakar Challenge, joining former South African champions Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst in a Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford Ranger. Visser and Badenhorst crashed out of the race early on with Visser subsequently missing most of the 2014 South African championship due to a neck injury.
Rundle and Mohr, however, produced a sterling performance with a top 30 finish. Driving a DMack/Barden Toyota Hilux the South African pair finished 22nd.
The 2015 Dakar saw van Staden and Lawrenson back for a second bite at the cherry accompanied by German crew Jurgen and Daniel Schroder who were regulars in the South African championship. The two teams were out in Nissan Navaras and there was better luck this time out for van Staden/Lawrenson and both crews finished in the top 40. Van Staden and Lawrenson were classified 31st with the Schroders 37th out of 67 competitors who saw out the distance.
The 2016 edition of the Dakar was kind to South Africa but with a sting in the tail. There was the exemplary performance from the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA entries with four other crews earning their place in the record books.
Century Racing entered two cars for Mark Corbett and Juan Mohr and the late Colin Matthews and Rodney Burke. Corbett and Mohr covered themselves in glory by finishing 17th and winning the two-wheel drive petrol class with Matthews and Burke, who ran into late problems, classified 38th.
Perseverance also paid off for Sean Reitz and Riaan Greying, in a Red-Lined Nissan Navara, who finished one place ahead of Matthews and Burke. There was heartbreak, however, for the Schroders who crashed out of the event on the penultimate stage’
Apart from individual performances South Africa excelled at the 2016 Dakar with South African designed and built vehicles accounting for 60 percent of the first 40 finishers. Among the 24 South African built cars to make it to the finish were 17 Toyota Hilux models, two Ford Rangers, two Century Racing CR5 entries, two Renault Dusters built by Thompson Racing at Kyalami, and a Red-Lined Motorsport Nissan Navara.
With Toyota again leading the way South African car builders also excelled with the two Renault Dusters finishing 18th and 19th and Ford Rangers built in Pietermaritzburg by Neil Woolridge Motorsport finishing 29th and 34th. Both Fords were supported by South African Scott Abrahams’ South Racing company, based in Germany, which also provided logistics for Red-Lined Motorsport.
