Pressure will be the name of the game as drama unfolds over the final two rounds of the Special Vehicle championship in this year’s Absa Off Road Championship.
A third win on the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race saw former South African champion Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau, in the Team Total Porter, ease their way further ahead of 2007 champions Kallie and Quinton Sullwald, in the Elegant Fuel BAT, in the overall championship. But with just 12 points separating the two teams Variawa/Rousseau are still in a vulnerable position and the last two events, the Human Auto 400 in the Free State and the RFS Magalies 400 in Mogale City, are going to pressure cooker affairs.
Just to make it more interesting two other teams are not yet out of the overall picture. Class P leaders Johan van Staden and James Rossouw (Atlas Copco BAT) and a second Sullwald father and son team, Herman and Wichard (Sullwald Racing SVR), both have mathematical chances of lifting the overall title.
As matters stand there are 24 points covering the four teams. With 50 points up for grabs on the last two events anything can happen.
The current situation sees Variawa/Rousseau (94) ahead of Kallie and Quintin Sullwald (82) with van Staden/Rossouw (71) in third place. Herman and Wichard Sullwald are a further point in arrears and the inaugural Free State race, with teams venturing into the unknown, could play a pivotal role in the final outcome.
The situation in Class A is, however, a little different. Here anomalies in off road scoring see Herman and Wichard Sullwald with a three point lead over Variawa and Rousseau. Kallie and Quintin Sullwald are third and once again the situation is loaded with possibility.
The Class P status quo is more clear-cut. Here van Staden and Rossouw have handy leads in the driver and co-driver championships.
Van Staden leads Archie Rutherford (Regent Racing Jimco) by 21 points among the drivers with Swaziland based John Thompson third. For his part Rossouw has a 44 point lead over Thompson’s regular co-driver, Clinton McNamara, who missed the Toyota Desert Race, and is home and dry.
The situation in Class B remains unchanged after the Botswana race. Although they were listed among the non finishers Bes Bezuidenhout and daughter-in-law Lindie (Adenco BAT) still have handy leads in the driver and co-driver stakes.
Veterans Coetzee Labuscagne (Raysonics Zarco) and Giel Nel (Zarco Truggy) finished first and second on the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, but are among a handful of crews who are separated by one point but are well out of the championship running. Labuscagne was partnered by daughter Sandra in Botswana while Jaco Jonck sat alongside Nel.
The Human Auto 400 will be run from the Windmill Casino on the outskirts of Bloemfontein on October 22 and 23.