WELKOM, South Africa, 8 October 2023: The extraordinarily aggressive 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) is positioned on a knife’s edge, and Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (#277) gained the upper hand with a most factors haul on the Renergen 400 in Welkom on 6 and 7 October 2023 – the penultimate race of the season.
Renergen 400 weekend
The Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Castrol crew delivered a faultless efficiency all through the extraordinarily scorching and dusty two days of motion, with spherical six of the championship primarily based on the Phakisa Freeway race circuit in Welkom. Gareth and Boyd powered their EcoBoost-powered Ranger to their second win of the season, extending their lead within the total Production Vehicle championship and selling them to the highest place in school T1+.
“It’s been a brilliant weekend, and all the cards fell into place for us,” Gareth stated. “We had a faultless race today, our car didn’t skip a beat and it is nice to bring home our second win of the season. This is great for our championship hopes, but we will still need to be on our toes at the final race and I have no doubt that the Toyota guys will push us right to the end.”
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It was already clear from the quick 15km prologue and the opening 58km race loop on Friday that the 2 NWM Ford Castrol entries had been on a cost, as team-mates Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert (#234) ended the day second total, simply 36 seconds behind in a single day leaders and championship contenders Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota). Gareth and Boyd had been a mere 42 seconds additional again, giving them an ideal beginning place for Saturday – and positioning them forward of a trio of different manufacturing facility Toyota entries.
With the stress on the entire prime groups for the 2 arduous 164km race loops, Lance and Kenny began chasing down the main Toyota from the beginning. Unfortunately, their very good run ended abruptly 106km into the loop once they hit a deep ditch on the race route whereas following within the mud of the main Toyota. The ensuing suspension injury compelled them to retire on the spot.
“We went well on Friday with third place in qualifying and ended the day second overall,” Lance stated. “In the first race loop on Saturday we were making up time on Henk, then landed up in his dust after he had to stop for a puncture. We hit a horrible triple caution really hard that broke the upper chassis mounts for the shock absorber clean off, and we couldn’t continue. Considering the other competitors that rolled in the same place, we were probably really lucky, but it was a disappointing end to what looked set to be a very good race for us.”
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Although their team-mates had been out of motion, Gareth and Boyd had managed to claw again vital time over Lategan/Cummings on the opening loop, and entered the 30-minute service cease with a lead of 1 min 6 sec. The battle continued between the 2 main championship contenders on the second loop till Lategan was caught out by the identical ditch that sidelined Lance – however with extra extreme penalties as they rolled out of the race, and the Toyota driver suffered a shoulder harm.
Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy additionally incurred suspension injury and completed the race sixteenth within the Production Vehicle class and eleventh in T1+ – thus hampering their championship problem, and giving the NWM Ford Castrol crew further respiratory area within the factors desk.
Gareth and Boyd didn’t put a foot mistaken and had been in a category of their very own as they wrapped up the extraordinarily quick and difficult race in good type. They completed 02:58 forward of Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle (Toyota) and 4 minutes forward of the third-placed Toyota crew of Saood Variawa and Danie Stassen.
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This peerless efficiency earned them the upper hand in each the general Production Vehicle and class T1+ championships going into the ultimate race – the Waterberg 400 in November.
There had been a number of positives to take from a tricky however rewarding couple of days of racing, in line with crew principal Neil Woolridge: “It has been a terrific weekend for the crew. The vehicles had been good, and each of our crews had been on fireplace proper from the phrase go. We did a few upgrades to the vehicles after the final race, and clearly the modifications labored nicely primarily based on the outcomes.
“What happened to Lance and Kenny was a great pity, otherwise I think we could have had a one-two finish. But it’s a fantastic result for Gareth and Boyd, especially with all their hard work and physical training they have been doing,” Neil stated. “Our crew of mechanics and technicians additionally deserves credit score for the large effort they’ve put into the automotive this yr, and it’s nice to see it paying off.
“This win is good for the championship, both for us as a team and also to keep the battle going right to the end of the season. Our opposition didn’t have a good event, and I sincerely hope that Henk’s injury isn’t too serious and that he has a speedy recovery,” Neil added.
The NWM-supported privateer crew of Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen (#241) racked up one other stable end, crossing the road ninth total, and eighth in T1+.
The closing race of the season is the Waterberg 400 in Limpopo on 10 and 11 November 2023.
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2024 Dakar Rally
Ford Performance is about to develop its world motorsports effort by competing within the legendary Dakar Rally, one of many hardest off-road competitions on Earth.
The purpose-built, race-ready Ford Ranger will compete within the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia within the Rally Raid T1+ class. Ford Performance is collaborating in a complete check and improvement program with M-Sport and Neil Woolridge Motorsport to organize for what is predicted to be a particularly powerful problem come January 2024.
Published by Ford South Africa on Quickpic
For extra information concerning the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship, comply with our motorsport web page.
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