Summarize

Red-Lined Motorsport came home from the weekend’s penultimate 2024 South African Rally-Raid Championship Free State Phakisa 400 in Welkom with mixed emotions. A T1 Adventure class win and three cars in that top five to consolidate their championship advantage proved a great takeaway for the team. That was however offset by a few development learnings for the team’s factory T1+ Red-Lined REVO GT-R’s. 

“Welkom was another weekend of mixed emotions for Red-Lined Motorsport,” team principal Terence Marsh explains. “Our Red-Lined T1+ REVO GT-R’s were once again up there from a pace perspective throughout the weekend, but bad luck struck again when an unusual brake disc failure took our lead car out of contention on the Saturday. Our second GTR was also hampered by a new engine belt configuration issue which ended up costing them time to replace, but they fought back to eighth in class, which wasn’t a true reflection of their pace.

“On the other hand, our well developed and trusty Red-Lined VK56s once again starred in the T1 Adventure class with a maiden win for our N Sirkel Racing privateer team, which also extended their championship lead as we head into the final round of the championship in November. They were backed by two more VK56’s in the top five for another good day for us in the class.”

Chris Visser and Albertus Venter were initially right on the pace in their Red-Lined REVO T1+ GT-R. A strong time trial and a positive first day in and about the top ten seemed to set the scene for a good result, but it was not to be. A brake disc failure at high speed eventually eliminated them from the race. Rients Hofstra and Wade Harris also enjoyed a good early run with impressive speed and consistency in the second GTR until the engine threw a belt and stopped them in their tracks. The crew however managed to replace the belt to eventually drive home eighth in class after a somewhat lengthy delay.

It was however another great weekend for son and dad as Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein went on to finally score their maiden National T1 class win in Welkom. Essentially Rally Raid rookies in 2024, the Heinlein’s have scored podium finishes in every one of the past nine national and regional rounds aboard their Sirkel N VK56 and now take a commanding lead in the championship into the last round in November. Danie Ludick and Denzil Williamson were delayed by a couple of punctures en route to fourth in T1 in only their second National event aboard their Elegant Fuels VK56. And ever-consistent Philip Botha and substitute notes man Stompie Mynhardt ended a solid fifth in their Penta Motor Group VK56.

“Our customer teams once again did us proud in the T1 Adventure class. With just the one championship round to go the Heinlein’s now stand on the brink of a potential National Championship so all boxes will once again need to be ticked with regards to our mechanical preparation,” Terence concludes. “As good as our T1 results were, our T1+ development continues which is all part of the journey as frustrating as it might be at times. A further shout out to our entire support team on another great collective effort over the weekend!”