Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau (Total Porter) made history on Sunday when they recorded their third successive win in the Special Vehicle category of the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race. In the process they extended their championship lead over father and son Kallie and Quintin Sullwald (BAT Spec 4) to 12 points with two rounds of the Absa Off Road Championship remaining. The Sullwalds finished second, 1 min 56 sec behind the Total pair and 2 min 35 sec in front of Kallie’s brother Herman and his son Wichard who were driving an SVR, an off road racer designed and built by Variawa.
“We achieved exactly what we came here to achieve,” said a delighted Variawa at the finish at Kumakwane, 25 km from Botswana’s capital city of Gaborone. “It was a very tough race, very hot and, of course, very sandy. We had no problems whatsoever. We had the right strategy and plan and it was a great all-round team effort.
“I love the Desert Race. It was always my ambition to win it and it took me 16 years to achieve my dream for the first time in 2008. The race has been kind to us since then, but it is a tough challenge and we have always given it the respect it deserves.
“We chose the wrong tyres for Friday’s prologue – we should have fitted tyres with a more aggressive tread – so we ended up fifth for Saturday’s start. I pushed hard on Saturday to get to the front, which was our objective, and we were very pleased to achieve this. It was a tight and twisty 500-km route, better suited to the pickups that contest the Production Vehicle category.
“Sunday’s route, which consisted of two identical 250-km loops, was brand new to all of us, so we adopted a relatively cautious approach to the first loop and then pushed hard after the service stop at the halfway point once we were familiar with the route’s challenges and knew what to expect. It was a better route for us than yesterday and a good balance between fast roads and tighter sections.”
It was the Variawa/Rousseau/Total Porter’s third win this season following success in the opening round in the Western Cape in March and the KwaZulu-Natal round in May. Had it not been for an uncharacteristic non-finish in the recent 4×4 Mega World 400 in Gauteng in August, caused by getting stuck in a muddy ditch, the championship leaders might be a lot closer to their first national championship victory together and Variawa’s second drivers’ title (he won in 2000).
With a total of 50 points on offer in the remaining rounds – in the Free State in October and Gauteng in November – there is still much to play for. “We have a good vehicle and Siegfried and I are very comfortable with each other. We still have to drop our worst result and this will be an advantage as it means we drop zero points for our non-finish. Kallie and Quintin have scored in every round so far, which means they will have to drop points. We’ll be putting in a big effort to do well in the two remaining rounds.”
The next event is the new Bloemfontein 400 on October 22 and 23.
– Credit: Total South Africa.