PRESSURE MOUNTS FOR TGRSA AS SARRC MOVES TO BRONKHORSTSPRUIT
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA is gearing up for the next round of the 2022 South African Rally-Raid Championship, the #TeamHilux Rally-Raid Bronkhorstspruit, which takes place this weekend. Three TGRSA crews attained podium positions during the previous round of the championship, the TGRSA 1,000 Desert Race, putting them firmly in the spotlight for the upcoming event.
In the overall Production Category, Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen find themselves in the lead, one point clear of teammates Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy. Fellow Toyota Hilux T1+ driver Guy Botterill is in third place on the log, while defending champions Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings are in fifth place, 24 points behind the leaders.
“Shameer has had a cracking start to the season, and even though overall victory has eluded him, we are elated to see his name at the top of the leader board,” says TGRSA Team Principal, Glyn Hall. “Shameer will want to record another good result this weekend, but so will the rest of the team, which is sure to make for exciting racing.”
TGRSA will again be fielding four identical Toyota Hilux T1+ race cars this weekend, with all four cars having undergone full rebuilds after the gruelling TGRSA 1,000 Desert Race.
The team will also be adding a number of enhanced suspension components for the weekend, as well as a newly tweaked engine map, which is aimed at extracting the maximum performance from the stock twin-turbo V6 engine, while remaining within the limits imposed by the FIA.
“With that said, we do know that one of our competitors will be using an updated power setup themselves, which has been agreed and ratified by the FIA,” continues Hall. “So, even though we are making strides of our own, we’ll have to keep a close eye on the competition this weekend.”
This weekend’s race will kick off with a 15 km-long qualifying race, to determine the starting order for the main event. The qualifier starts on Friday at 12:00 from the Soetdoring Restaurant near the Gauteng town of Bronkhorstspruit, and will be followed by the first of the weekend’s three race loops, at 14:00.
Two more race loops follow on Saturday, starting at 08:00, and there will be a compulsory break of 30 minutes between the two race loops. Fans can follow the action online via the RallySafe app, or visit the event where access is free of charge.