Summarize

South African Dakar 2018 rookie hero Hennie de Klerk will switch to a brand new Nismo-powered TreasuryOne Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56 for his return to the Dakar on the event’s first visit to Saudi-Arabia 5-17 January 2020. De Klerk and navigator Johann Smalberger will pull no punches as they put the new machine to a baptism of fire when they drive it for the first time on its race debut at the Kalahari Rally in the Northern Cape 5-11 October.

“We are delighted to confirm that TreasuryOne will be racing a brand new Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56 starting at the Kalahari Rally this weekend, in preparation for our attack on Dakar 2020 Saudi Arabia,” Hennie de Klerk announced. “Our thinking was to have a new car for Dakar 2020 and the Nismo V8-powered Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56 has a mid-mounted engine design that is ideally suited to racing the dunes. 

“The TreasuryOne Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56 will be my race car for the next 5 years and our plan is to continue to compete in one international rally raid each year, starting with Dakar 2020 and then the Silk Way Rally in China in 2021. “Our Red-Lined adventure however starts with a bang, when we kick off straight into the Kalahari Rally this weekend. “That's pretty exciting — what better way to start our new era, but flat out!”

“We are honoured to have Dakar rookie legend Hennie de Klerk, Johan Smalberger and TreasuryOne Racing join the Red-Lined Motoring Adventure stable,” Red-Lined team principal Terence Marsh added. “Hennie delivered a winning performance in his rookie Dakar in South America last year and showed great pace in this year’s Morocco Desert Challenge, so we are most excited for what is proving a natural fit with them now racing one of our latest Red-Lined Navara VK56s.”  

The 3500km Kalahari Rally includes 2100km of racing and starts with a 94km prologue around Mafikeng on Saturday, before heading straight into a 700km two-day Marathon stage across the remote Northern Cape semi-desert via Kraaipan to Heuningvlei on Sunday and Monday. From there, crews head to Vanzylsrus, Digtebos and Skilpadshek before finishing back in Mafikeng Friday 11 October.