After dominating the prologue on Friday and the first 500 kilometre loop of the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1 000 Desert Race on Saturday, Castrol Team Toyota started the final 500 kilometre Sunday leg of the event as strong favourites. With just kilometres still to run few would have bet against reigning South African Off Road Champion, Duncan Vos, taking the honours for Toyota and his fourth Desert Race win in a row. At that point he was just seconds behind eventual winner Hannes Grobler and challenging for the lead when he encountered a steering problem and dropped back to finish the desert marathon in third place.
Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton led the field in Friday’s prologue, completing the race to determine the start order for the main event 28 seconds ahead of the Ford of Neil Woolridge. Team mates Duncan Vos and Robbie Howie were just 3 seconds adrift of the Ford.
At the end of the first 500 kilometre racing section it was very much advantage Toyota with the two Castrol team Toyota Hilux SPs in first and second places separated by just 1 minute 43 seconds. Toyota’s position was strengthened with Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst in third place in their privately entered Hilux SP, just four seconds behind Vos.
The Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1 000 Desert Race is renowned for taking a heavy toll on competitors. The 2010 event saw just 24 of the original 56 starters complete the event. This reputation impacted on Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton within the first 30 kilometres of the loop when their gearbox failed. At that point the advantage shifted to Duncan Vos who was able to build up a significant time gap over the BMW of Hannes Grobler and the Hilux of Chris Visser going into the mid-leg service point.
At the service a shock absorber on Vos’ Hilux was changed as a precaution, delaying him just enough to see him leave the service point seconds behind Grobler and set up a furious chase for the win over the final three hours of the race. For most of this time less than 10 seconds separated these two seasoned Toyota Desert Race competitors. Within ten kilometres of the end Vos saw his dream of becoming the first driver to win four TDRs in a row shattered as a steering system retaining bolt fractured and he was forced to stop to effect a repair.
“Excitement and disappointment go hand-in-hand on the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1 000 Desert Race,” says Castrol Team Toyota team principal, Glyn Hall. “We had our fair share of both this year with a nail biting finish on the cards right up to the end.
“Both our Hilux SPs were the class of the field as far as outright speed went this weekend but we were caught out by problems that we have not experienced before. The severe nature of the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1 000 Desert Race tests every vehicle and every component on the absolute limit. In both cases we were sidelined by failures of fasteners supplied by third parties that have been well up to the task in the past.
“The result is good for the championship as it closes it up for an exciting climax in the final two rounds for the season. Chris Visser leads the championship with 97 points with Duncan just 11 points off that total. An ideal finish to the season with Duncan and Chris Visser fighting it out with a 12 point swing available to Duncan if he can win both events ahead of Chris. The dark horse as ever is Hannes Grobler. Just one point behind Duncan but outside of the 12 point margin, Hannes can cause an upset if Duncan and Chris pick up problems.
“The closeness of the results after the first 500 kilometres provide an insight as to just how competitive the Production Vehicle Category of the ABSA Off Road series has become. The top four SP vehicles were covered by just under three minutes after 500 kilometres of the Desert Race, the normal length of all other national events.”
A consolation for Toyota was the Manufacturers’ Team Award for the top three finishers from one make. Another consolation for Toyota was the win in Class D for production vehicles for the near standard 4X4 Mega World Hilux of Deon Venter and Ian Palmer.`
– Credit: Toyota of South Africa.