Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 14 May 2023: Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer proved that they’re critical contenders for the South African Rally-Raid Championship title this 12 months following a formidable efficiency at this weekend’s Sugarbelt 400 in Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, which earned them a second consecutive podium.
Sugarbelt 400 proved Woolridge and Dreyer as potential champions
The Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Castrol crew proved their potential, in addition to that of the EcoBoost V6-powered T1+ Ranger, on Friday’s 52km qualifying loop by blitzing the quick however intense dash by way of the sugarcane plantations that outline this scenic farming space. They accomplished the qualifying dash in a time of 42 min 49 sec after a faultless run – a considerable 01:13 faster than second-placed Toyota rivals Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy, and an extra two seconds forward of the second Toyota of Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings.
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Their benefit was in the end reduce to simply 4 seconds after the qualifying dash was recalculated to finish on the 20.29km mark following a fireplace that blocked the route for a number of rivals. NWM Ford Castrol team-mates Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert slotted into third place in a single day based mostly on the revised occasions, simply seven seconds adrift of De Villiers/Murphy, and a mere one second forward of Lategan/Cummings.
More thrilling battles
Saturday noticed the thrilling battle on the sharp finish of the sector achieve additional momentum as Gareth and Boyd accomplished the opening 162km loop within the lead after a quick and trouble-free run – with a helpful margin of 59 seconds to Lategan/Cummings, and 04:43 forward of De Villiers/Murphy.
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Unfortunately, issues didn’t go to plan for Lance and Kenny, as a navigation error value them appreciable time and they dropped down the operating order.
Punctures stricken a number of of the highest rivals on the second 162km loop, and this included Gareth and Boyd as they needed to change a tyre with 50km remaining. With lower than a minute separating the NWM Ford Ranger pair from the lead on the closing break up, the thrilling tussle pale as they picked up an issue on the entrance brakes with simply 30km to go.
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Having to rely solely on the handbrake to sluggish the car, Gareth and Boyd fought tenaciously proper to the end, and have been rewarded with third place total. They misplaced out on second place by simply 14 seconds to De Villiers/Murphy after nearly 350km of high-paced motion, with the win going to Lategan/Cummings. This was the NWM Ford Castrol crew’s second podium on the trot, after securing the runner-up spot on the season-opening race in Malalane.
“It was great to win the qualifying race yesterday, and we started today strong and found a good rhythm on the first loop. We were even quicker on loop two and it was going really well until we got the puncture. We then had the brake issue which cost us a lot of time, so finishing third is a good result all considered.”
“For our local championship, it’s really exciting that the top teams are very evenly matched. Today was a proper race, especially amongst the three of us up front. We all had a laugh at the end and agreed that it was extremely close, which is nice to see.”
Gareth Woolridge, NWM Ford Castrol Team
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Lance and Kenny’s first loop navigation error was compounded by a difficulty with the rear differential, which the workforce elected to exchange on the necessary 30-minute service cease. They incurred an extra quarter-hour of lateness making the change, however thankfully had a transparent and impressively quick run by way of the second loop, bringing the NWM Ranger residence 12th total and seventh in T1+.
“It was a tough weekend for us after the navigation mistake this morning, but Kenny and I are learning together which is our goal for this year. On the second lap we had a perfect run without a single mistake and got into a really nice groove, so Kenny is very quickly getting to grips with the road book and GPS navigation.”
“We also stopped to pull out Eben Basson and Leander Pienaar after they overshot a corner, and were happy to return the favour after they helped me at the Parys event last year. We are looking forward to the Desert Race in Botswana, as that’s the big one and we have a lot of work planned for the cars, but the pace we had this weekend is very exciting for us.”
Lance Woolridge, NWM Ford Castrol Team
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It was a optimistic end result for NWM workforce principal, Neil Woolridge. “We’re all the time engaged on the automobile with upgrades and evolutions, and all the trouble the workforce has put into it this 12 months is actually displaying, as we’ve been very aggressive in each of the opening races, which may be very encouraging.
“Our joint development project with M-Sport is also bearing fruit, as we learn a lot about the car every time we go testing together. Last week we completed around 3 500km of testing in Morocco without any issues, proving just how tough and capable our T1+ Ranger is, and it’s fantastic to be taking the fight to our rivals this year.”
Neil Woolridge, NWM Ford Castrol Team Principal
The subsequent race is the Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Jwaneng, Botswana, from 23-25 June 2023.
Published by Ford South Africa on Quickpic
For extra information in regards to the South African Rally-Raid Championship, take a look at our Motorsport page.
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