Summarize

Red-Lined Motorsport closed its South African Rally-Raid Championship in style as all five race cars finished a Waterberg 400 that saw thermometer mercury cooking at close to 45 degrees over the weekend.

“We enjoyed a great end to our 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship as all five cars entered, finished the Thabazimbi event this weekend,” Red-Lined Motorsport CEO Terence Marsh confirmed. “We fought all the way to the end for the T1 championship, exposed two international crews to our new top class REVO T1+ machines in extreme temperatures, and our other two South African crews also performed well in those extremely tough Limpopo Province conditions.”

The weekend did not start well for FIA T1 championship contenders Johan de Bruyn and Gerhard Schutte, who rolled their OdorCure powered REVO T1 early in Friday’s qualifying race and were forced to start from the back Saturday morning. “It was a hard, dusty slog, but we fought back to third in class in the end,” Johan de Bruyn explained. “So, a special thanks to the team for turning the car around overnight after that difficult start to the weekend. Congratulations to our great rivals Eben and Leander on the T1 title, it was a brilliant and hard fought season!”

De Bruyn and Schutte ended just outside the overall top ten in eleventh place, ousted by Dutch teammates Dave Klaassen and Tessa Rooth who enjoyed their best South African championship result yet in their DaklaPack Rallysport powered REVO T1+. Australian crew Adam Kaplan and Dale Moscatt thrived on their SA debut aboard their brand-new AEH Agri & Construction powered REVO T1+ to come home tenth in FIA T1+ and 14th overall in spite of the novelty of tight, tricky, and mountainous terrain, something that they are by no means used to.

Philip Botha and Roelof Janse van Vuren made a welcome and impressive SA Rally-Raid return aboard their Penta Motor Group powered VK56, only to be thwarted with a troublesome wheel change after a puncture on the last loop to drop them off the podium and to fourth in the T1 class. Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein showed great pace all weekend coming home third in T1 before suffering a 15-minute penalty and dropping their Sirkel N Landgoed powered VK56 back to fifth in T1.

“That brings another awesome South African Rally Raid Championship to an end for Red-Lined Motorsport,” Terence Marsh concluded. “Another 100 percent finishing rate in this event in what was treacherously hot conditions and this together with some good individual results is testament to all the crews and our incredible support team. 

“Reflecting back on the season we produced 100% finishing records for de Bruyn and Schutte, Klaassen and Rooth and then Botha and Janse van Vuren as well as a few of our international guests. Another really great team effort in what is clearly the toughest and most competitive championship in the world!”