Thomas Rundle and Juan Mohr’s debut outing together in the Absa Off Road Car Championship in the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga last year was cut prematurely short when their Barden Tyre Services Racing Nissan Navara lost an argument with a concrete block submerged in a deep puddle of muddy water.
But the individually highly experienced Gauteng-based pair are made of stern stuff and went on to show they can handle things when the going gets tough. They overcame a number of further set-backs and disappointments last season that would have made even a cowboy cry to establish themselves as among the leading contenders in the country’s toughest series in motor sport.
They are back to contest the new season, which starts on Friday (March 11) with the two-day Adenco 400 in Darling in the Western Cape. Rundle’s connection with Nissan goes back to 2005 when he started a four-year relationship with the most successful manufacturer in off road racing in the last 10 years, driving a class E Nissan Hardbody backed by Barden Tyre Services, the Pretoria-based family business he manages.
He rates the ex-Nissan Motorsport class SP Nissan Navara the best off road vehicle he’s ever driven and he and former champion co-driver Mohr, with Nissan in 2008, aim to improve on their best result last year of third in the Sun City 400 with their first win together in 2011. The event was won by fellow privateer Terence Marsh in another ex-factory Nissan Navara.
Rundle and Mohr are among a healthy class SP entry of around 20 who will contest the Adenco 400 on Friday and Saturday. The main race starts at 08.30 on Saturday from the Darling Club after the Donaldson prologue on Friday determines the start order.
Rundle, whose best result to date was second overall in a factory Ford Ranger in the Eastern Cape 1000 in 2009, is confident he and Mohr can join the privateers who upset the Toyota and Ford factory team applecart in 2010 and add a win of their own to the five scored last season.
“Juan and I combined well in our first season together, but we did not have the best of luck and technical problems resulted in too many retirements. It was frustrating,” he admits.
“Off road racing is a merciless form of motor sport and even the best can be caught out by the conditions. We came so close to winning the Sun City event, losing the lead as a result of two punctures during the race. We’re ready for our first win and we’ll be working very hard this year to achieve it.”
While Barden Tyre Services is the principal sponsor, the team also enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with other partners and suppliers like Dunlop tyres, Autozone, Hausberger and Associates, Maxwell Design and Advertising, Willard batteries, Cedar Chem and Hi Tech Mag Repairs.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.