Extremely wet weather conditions and a slippery and muddy route that deteriorated rapidly due to the persistent torrential rain, caused havoc at the Parys 400, the sixth and penultimate round of the South African Rally-Raid Championship that took place from the Parys Airfield in the Free State on Friday, 11 November.
The prevailing wet weather in the ten days leading up to the event, left the organisers with no option but to shorten the race distance of the event by 50 kilometres on Wednesday, prior to the event.
The event is the title decider for most of the championship classes in both the Production and Special Vehicle Categories with the seventh and final round taking place on Saturday, 12 November.
Round six kicked off with a short 12 kilometre Pirelli Qualifying Race that determined the starting positions for the first of the two loops. Unfortunately the extremely poor racing conditions took its toll and, the race organisers were forced to cancel the second loop due to the treacherous conditions.
This meant that Round Six of the Parys 400 was determined over a total of just over 110 kilometres under almost impossible racing conditions. In the end, it was the defending champions, Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA DKR Hilux T1+) who claimed the victory ahead of their title rivals and team-mates, Giniel de Villiers together with navigator Rodney Burke.
Lategan/Cummings posted the fifth fastest time after the short qualifier while De Villiers/Burke were third fastest and with the ten fastest teams drawing for their start positions, Lategan/Cummings were the third team to take on the shortened loop while De Villiers/Burke were fifth out of the starting blocks.
Their team-mates, Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen, won the Pirelli Qualifying Race followed by the Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR Hilux T1+) while Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR Hilux T1+) were fourth; Lance Woolridge/Elvéne Vonk (NWM Ford Castrol NWM T1+Ranger) were sixth followed by Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid); Lance Trethewey/Leonard Cremer (King Price Xtreme CR6) and Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) in tenth place.
With teams drawing for their starting positions for the first loop, Visser/Venter were first off followed by Trethewey/Cremer; Lategan/Cummings; Botterill/Vacy-Lyle; De Villiers/Burke; Variawa/Stassen; the Horn brothers; Du Preez/Visser Jnr; Basson/Pienaar and Woolridge/Vonk.
In the end, a mere 94 seconds separated the two leading teams with Variawa/Stassen (01:41:44) rounding off the Production Vehicle Category podium, 65 seconds behind De Villiers/Burke.
Botterill/Vacy-Lyle (01:43:25) finished fourth overall and in FIA T1+ with Woolridge/Vonk 20 seconds further back in fifth place after losing some time changing a flat tyre. Their team-mates, Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer, who started 10th in the category, finished in sixth, 45 seconds behind them.
The top ten was rounded off by Trethewey/Cremer (01:46:03) who won FIA T1.2 in seventh; Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) in eighth and winning FIA T1 ahead of their team-mates, Visser/Venter (Red-Lined REVO) finishing ninth and Nicolas Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Super Energi Race Fuels Red-Lined VK50) in 10th place.
There were problems for the Horns who were the second last team to finish while they scored points in seventh place in FIA T1+.
In FIA T1.2 Trethewey/Cremer were the only finishers with Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit (CR6) and Simon Murray/Achim Bergman (WCT HT2 Toyota Hilux Turbo) not able to see out the race distance.
Richard Leeke/Zaheer Bodhanya (Leeke Motorsport) finished fourth in T1 and were followed by Gary Bertholdt/Juan Möhr (Toyota Hilux); Basson/Pienaar; Philip Botha/Roelof Janse van Vuren (Red-Lined Motorsport VK56) who added to their 100% finishing record; the Blignaut brothers, Fouche and Bertus (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid); the German driver, Jurgen Schröder/Stuart Gregory (Nissan Navara) somewhat further back and the Dubai visitor, Thomas Bell/Wade Harris (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) who made it to the finish despite also losing lots of time.
The young driver, Jayden Els and navigator, Armand du Toit (King Price Xtreme Renault Duster) is under pressure for the Class T title and were leading the class, but the team could not finish the race while their rivals, Johan van Staden and his son, Sean (KEC Racing Renault Duster) took the victory. This battle will continue at the seventh and final round.
In the Special Vehicle Category, Trace Price Moor/Shaun Braithwaite (BAT Venom) claimed the victory (02:05:57) ahead of Lood Du Preez/Chris Visser Jnr (Farmers Meat Stryker) who finished fifth overall in the category – they posted the fastest time after the qualifying race. The new overall champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (BAT Spec 4) got stuck and then experienced alternator problems. They got going again after Grant Watkins/Mark Irvine (Zarco) towed them to get going again. The Class A title battle will go down to the wire at the seventh round.
Four Class G teams managed to reach the finish with Glen Theron/Craig Galvin (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) taking the class victory (02:06:17) and finishing second overall. Their team-mates and class leaders, Werner Mostert and his son, Ian, still have their focus on the title albeit finishing fourth in the class and sixth overall. Their title rivals, Geoff Minnitt/Gerhard Snyman (Hydro Power Equipment Can-Am Maverick) could not finish the Parys 400 as well as outgoing champions, Cecil and Elardus Larney.
Francois de Wit/Ewald van Rensburg (Can-Am Maverick) scored another Class G podium by finishing second while they were third overall. Another Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick team, Gideon Jacobs/Richard Vardy Jnr) rounded off the podium after their first SARRC of the season.
There was hard luck for the rest of the Special Vehicle Category teams including Sandra Labuschagne-Jonck/Jaco Jonck (KEC Racing BAT Viper) who got stuck in mud when another competitor collided with them and broke a wheel while Watkins/Irvine could also not finish.
More overnight rain is expected before the seventh and final round scheduled for Saturday, 12 November.
Images: Andre Schoeman
