With 13 victories between them in the 26-year history of the event, former South African champions Richard Leeke and Apie Reyneke have dominated the Toyota 1000 Desert Race.
Leeke, with seven victories between 1984 and 2004, leads the all time list of winners. His first win came with Paddy Driver in a Mitsubishi Pajero, and he scored subsequent wins with Kassie Coetzee (2) and Philip Malan in Toyota Hilux entries, and with Hannes Grobler (3) in Nissan Hardbody entries.
Reyneke scored the first of his six wins with Lucas Dreyer in a Nissan Safari in 1987. He won again with Dreyer, in a Toyota Land Cruiser, in 1994 and then scored four victories – all for Toyota – with Robin Houghton.
Houghton and Grobler are still competing and have four wins apiece. Grobler’s first victory came in 1986 with current Motorsport SA Off Road Car Racing Commission President Piet Swanepoel, but he had to wait until 2002 for his next win.
The father and son combination of Franz Czepek senior and junior also have four wins to their credit. The pair won three times in a row between 1997 and 1999 and again in 2001.
Buks Carolin and Neil Woolridge, who is still competing, each have three victories. Woolridge won for the first time in 1996 with Paul Vermaak in a Nissan Sani, and has twice won with Kenny Skjoldhammer for Ford Racing.
The Special Vehicle category has only three times been won by a singleseater with Des Tarboton – 1982 (Sandmaster), Rob Wark – 1994 (Sandmaster) and Marius Beaurain doing the trick in a Might Mag in 1996, and perhaps the most famous victory of all goes back to 1985. That was the year SA rally champions tackled the event in an Audi Quattro and pulverised the opposition.
1981 Petra Marais/Selwyn Robinson Kartkraft Sprinter
1982 Des Tarboton Sandmaster
1983 Hennie Reyneke/Mike Fourie Nissan Safari
1984 Paddy Driver/Richard Leeke Mitsubishi Pajero
1985 Geoff Mortimer/Brian Woodhead Audi Quattro
1986 Hannes Grobler/Piet Swanepoel Nissan Safari
1987 Apie Reyneke/Lucas Dreyer Nissan Safari
1988 Andre Kock/Koos Coetzee Toyota Land Cruiser
1989 Philip Malan/Richard Leeke Toyota Hilux
1990 Richard Schilling/Fred Levesque Chenowth
1991 Klaus Degener/Derrick Pinnoy Chenowth
1992 Kassie Coetzee/Richard Leeke Toyota Hilux
Craig Hopkinson/Martin Spencer VW Special
1993 Kassie Coetzee/Richard Leeke Toyota Hilux
John Lambert/Eric Scholtz (Special)Digidoor Porsche
1994 Apie Reyneke/Lucas Dreyer Toyota Land Cruiser
Robert Wark (Special) Raceco
1995 Apie Reyneke/Robin Houghton Toyota Land Cruiser
Richard Carolin/Buks Carolin(Special)Raceco
1996 Neil Woolridge/Paul Vermaak Nissan Sani
Marius Beaurain (Special) Mighty Mag
1997 Apie Reyneke/Robin Houghton Toyota Land Cruiser
Franz Czepek (Snr)/Franz Czepek(Jnr)(Special)Raceco
1998 Apie Reyneke/Robin Houghton Toyota Land Cruiser
Franz Czepek (Snr)/Franz Czepek(Jnr)(Special)Raceco
1999 Apie Reyneke/Robin Houghton Toyota Land Cruiser
Franz Czepek (Snr)/Franz Czepek(Jnr)(Special)Raceco
2000 Neil Woolridge/ Kenny Skjoldhammer Mitsubishi Pajero
Mark Corbett/Juan Mohr Special) Jimco
2001 Neil Woolridge/ Kenny Skjoldhammer Ford
Franz Czepek (Snr)/Franz Czepek (Jnr)(Special)Chenowth
2002 Hannes Grobler / Richard Leeke Nissan
Greg Daus / VZ van Zyl (Special)Raceco
2003 Hannes Grobler / Richard Leeke Nissan
John Weir-Smith / Geoff Minnitt (Special)Jimco
2004 Hannes Grobler / Richard Leeke Nissan
Atang Makgekgenene / Buks Carolin (Special)Jimco
2005 Alfie Cox/Ralph Pitchford Nissan
Atang Makgekgenene/Buks Carolin (Special) Jimco