Other rally
Botswana: Series Special Vehicle day 1 summary
VARIAWA/ROUSSEAU TAKE CHARGE OF SPECIAL VEHICLE CATEGORY Gaborone, Saturday - Two-time winners Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau took control of the Special Vehicle category on the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, round six of the ...
Edited: Sep 26, 2010, 5:14 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
VARIAWA/ROUSSEAU TAKE CHARGE OF SPECIAL VEHICLE CATEGORY
Gaborone, Saturday - Two-time winners Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau took control of the Special Vehicle category on the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, round six of the Absa Off Road Championship, today.
Variawa and Rousseau, in the Team Total Porter, ended an eventful day four minutes and two seconds ahead of 2007 winners and former South African champions Kallie and Quintin Sullwald in the Elegant Fuel BAT. Adding a little spice to a duel likely to develop between the two crews tomorrow is the fact that the two crews are also locked together at the top of the championship table.
Provisional results at the overnight halt saw a second father and son Sullwald crew, Herman Wichard, in third place in the Sullwald Racing SVR. It was a happier end to the day for the Sullwald's who last year spent the night in the desert.
Looking for a hat-trick of wins Variawa and Rousseau started the day fifth among the Special Vehicle category entries and gradually took control. They were helped by the retirements of Evan Hutchison/Darryl Curtis (Motorite Revo1) and Nick Harper and Kevin Hume in the Atlas Copco BAT.
The other major casualties in Class A were Bevan Bertholdt and Danie Stassen (lab88 BAT) and local crew Mohammad and Faizal Noble in a Porter.
Problems for the two Sullwald cars who started ahead of Variawa and Rousseau, also played into the hands of the Team Total crew. Hassles for the Sullwald's were, however, not serious and a good three-way battle could develop as today unfolds.
"We started where we wanted to, and achieved exactly what we wanted," said Variawa at the overnight stop. "We set out to bring the car home without any problems and had a troublefree run."
The next four places were filled by Class P cars with brothers Johan and Deon Bezuidenhout (Adenco BAT) ahead of championship leaders Johan van Staden and James Rossouw (Atlas Copco BAT), John Thompson and Zelda Niemandt (Zarco) and Bodo Bertholdt and Philip Herselman in the second Atlas Copco BAT. Bertholdt, at 68, is the oldest driver in the race and has competed in ever Desert Race since the inception of the event.
It was a good day for van Staden and Rossouw who started ninth in Class P and 41st on the road. At the other end of the scale Donaldson Prologue winners Archie Rutherford and Mike Lawrenson, in the Regent Racing Jimco, gradually slipped down the pecking order to end the day sixth in class.
Two veteran drivers were the only survivors in Class B. Former Blue Bulls scrum-half Coetzee Labuscagne and daughter Sandra (Raysonics Zarco) were around 10 minutes ahead of former champion Giel Nel and Jaco Jonck in the Zarco Truggy. There was no luck, however, for championship leaders Bez and Lindie Bezuidenhout (Adenco BAT) who fell by the wayside.
A broken wheel also sidelined brothers Keith and Andrew Makenete, in another Zarco, who were time barred.
The final leg of the race starts at Kumakwane, 25 kilometres from Gaborone, at 8am tomorrow. The designated service point is also at Kumakwane with the first cars expected at approximately 3pm.
-source: sa national off road racing
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article IRC: Peugeot Rallye Sanremo preview
Next article Botswana: Series prologue summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Darryl Curtis
Argentina-Chile-Peru race ready to start
Dakar
Dakar
Argentina-Chile-Peru race ready to start
Tarlton: Series Prologue summary
Other rally
Other rally
Tarlton: Series Prologue summary
Tarlton: Series preview
Other rally
Other rally
Tarlton: Series preview
Latest news
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
6 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
6 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 7 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe