The break of just over five months between the first two rounds of the 2020 South African National Cross Country Series (SACCS) fuelled the various title battles in the Production Vehicle Category and with most of the teams back in action it became clear the gauntlet has been laid down. The standings changed somewhat after the recent Bronkhorstspruit 400 and for a few teams, it is back to the drawing board if they want to ensure a turn of events during the second half of the shortened season.
In the Production Vehicle Championship the names at the top of the leader board did not change and after a second consecutive victory this season for the defending champions Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) they are still in control of the overall and the FIA Class standings with 60 points. Behind them things changed as team-mate Giniel de Villiers teamed up with Juan Möhr for the Bronkhorstspruit 400 as his regular navigator, the Spaniard Alex Bravo, could not participate due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.
De Villiers holds onto second in the Overall Production Vehicle Drivers’ Championship (41 points) while Chris Visser (Total Excellium Toyota) found himself on the podium (38 points) after finishing second at Bronkhorstspruit. Lance Woolridge (Ford Castrol Cross Country Team) dropped to fourth place (27 points) after experiencing a few mechanical issues at the recent event and Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing CR6) kept his fifth place with the same amount of points as Woolridge. Shameer Variawa (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) is sixth (20 points) followed by the new Class T leader, Terence Marsh (Red-Lined Motorsport Nissan) after a first victory this season.
The Horn brothers, Johan/Werner (Malalane Toyota) could not see out the distance at Bronkhorstspruit. Johan the second Class T driver on the overall standings trails Marsh by a single point. Gareth Woolridge (Ford Castrol Cross Country Team) who made his debut in the FIA Class at the Bronkhorstspruit 400 level pegs with Horn on ten points. Gary Bertholdt (Total Excellium Toyota) rounds off the top ten in the Overall Production Vehicle Drivers Championship with nine points.
Looking at the Overall Production Vehicle Navigators’ Championship, Danie Stassen, who sits next to Visser is now second (38 points) behind Cummings with Möhr, who read the notes for Baragwanath at the opening round, now third (30 points) after he scored a healthy haul of points navigating De Villiers to their third place at Bronkhorstspruit. Elvéne Vonk who teams up with Lance Woolridge, dropped to fourth only three points behind Möhr and four points ahead of Bravo (23 points).
Variawa’s navigator, Dennis Murphy, moved up to sixth (20 points) while Taye Perry, who had a baptism of fire in the navigator seat next to Baragwanath, scored enough points (15) to be in seventh place. Letshego Zulu is eighth and the leading Class T navigator (11 points) in the overall standings followed by Werner Horn and Boyd Dreyer who reads the notes for Gareth Woolridge, both with ten points.
Looking at the FIA Class Championship Lategan/Cummings (70 points) have a healthy lead but behind them things look a bit different due to the chopping and changing of driver and navigator combinations. In the class championship competitors score five points for starting a race and it made a difference in some aspects.
De Villiers (51 points) is still second with Visser (48 points) three points further back in third place. Lance Woolridge and Baragwanath both have 37 points with Variawa five points in arrears (32 points) in sixth place. The Fourie couple, Marius and Jolinda (Ford Ranger) could not finish at Bronkhorstspruit, but Marius (18 points) has moved up a position to seventh with the same score as Clint Weston (King Price Xtreme) who despite a roll at Bronkhorstspruit still finished eighth in class.
They are one point ahead of Ernest Roberts (Red-Lined Motorsport Nissan) who is only one point ahead of Johan van Staden (Elf Renault Duster) with Gareth Woolridge another point behind.
In the FIA Class Navigators’ Championship, Stassen (48 points) is chasing Cummings with Möhr (40 points) now on the podium. Only three points separate him from Vonk (37 points) who is five points ahead of Murphy (32 points). The rest of the top ten consists of Bravo (28 points) in sixth place; Perry (20 points) in seventh; Fourie and Gerhard Snyman, who navigates for Weston with 18 points; Henry Köhne who sits next to Roberts, with 17 points; Johan van Staden’s son Sean, is in 11th place with 16 points and Gareth Woolridge’s navigator, Boyd Dreyer one point behind him.
There are new leaders in the Class T championship. After their first win of the season, Marsh/Zulu (43 points) overtook the Horn brothers (40 points) with the rest a little further back. Bertholdt will be back with a vengeance and is currently third in the Class T Drivers’ Championship (33 points) with Wors Prinsloo (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford), who could not finish at Bronkhorstspruit, fourth with 28 points. Jacques van Tonder is fifth after not competing in the second round.
Zulu (43 points) and Werner Horn (40 points) will be fighting it out at the front while the rest will have to give it their all to catch up. Siegfried Rousseau is still third, but has the same amount of points (28) as André Vermeulen, who navigates for Prinsloo. Vermeulen can keep his podium position if Rousseau sits out more events while Sammy Redelinghuys, who regularly navigates for Van Tonder, can better his fifth place and 17 points.
Two things are certain – if the overall leaders are not reeled in they will show their heels to the rest and with the shuffling in the combinations the next few events are going to be extremely exciting.
The third round of the season, the Nampo 400, takes place on 18 and 19 September outside Bothaville in the Free State.
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