What promises to be a potent new combination in the Special Vehicle category of the Absa SA Off Road Championship is that of Bevan Bertholdt and Danie Stassen in a lab88 BAT Spec 4.
The experienced pair will make their first appearance of the season in this weekend’s Sun City 400 in North West Province in the latest version of the South African-designed and built special that Bertholdt, together with Brandon Harcus and Reghardt Roets, created way back in 2002.
“I’m very excited about this new project,” said Berthold. “I haven’t been having too much success lately (he and Stassen have been campaigning a Porter so far this season) and I’m not in this game to come second. The latest BAT is a proven winner and with backing from our sponsors, lab88, who are brand new to motor sport let alone off road racing, we are confident we can get back on the winning trail.”
Bertholdt is no stranger to the podium, having won the Tarkastad 400 in the Eastern Cape in an Aceco special and also the Sugarbelt 400 in KwaZulu Natal in a BAT. The 39-year-old entrepreneur from Chartwell North in Gauteng was also the first Toyota factory driver to beat the factory Nissans in six years when he won the Carnival City 400 in 2006 in a Hilux.
lab88 is a specialist retailer of high-end cellular telephones, cameras, computers and television sets based in Fourways, Gauteng and has chosen to partner with off road racing as a marketing tool and brand builder.
“We see our brand as experimental, non-conformist and ‘out there’,” said managing director Conrad Leigh. “We are all about the latest technology and technological skills and we believe the fit with national championship off road racing and Bevan Bertholdt Motorsport will be a very good one.”
Appropriately, Bertholdt and Stassen will carry the number A88 on their lab88 BAT and it would be an unwise punter to bet against them ending up on the podium this weekend.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.