Motorite Racing’s assault on the 2009 Sasol SA Rally Championship gets underway in KwaZulu Natal this weekend with the opening round, the TOTAL Tour Natal.
Team manager and driver Evan Hutchison will be paired this season with Elvene Coetzee, daughter of the legendary rally and off road driver Kassie and an experienced rally navigator. They will contest the very competitive class A7 in the Motorite Racing Toyota RunX that did impressive duty in its first season in Motorite colours in 2008.
“We learnt a lot in our first season of national championship rallying,” said Hutchison, SA off road champion in the special vehicle category in 2007 in a Motorite Racing BAT Spec 3.
“It was a brand new experience for me and very different to the longer national championship off road races I am more used to. This year, with what I learnt in our debut season and together with the experienced Elvene, we are aiming to get the team’s first class win and be contenders for the overall class championship.”
Hutchison had a chance to test his car on Saturday (March 7) at the opening round of the Hi Q Rallystar Sprint series near Bapsfontein.
Driving the Super Special course with new navigator Coetzee, he recorded the fastest time, was second fastest co-driving his own car with former national rally driving ace Etienne Lourens and third fastest driving with Lourens in the passenger seat.
“It was a great experience and I learnt a lot from Etienne. He gave us valuable assistance with setting up the car and also shared his considerable rally driving knowledge with me. We improved a lot throughout the course of the day and I feel confident Elvene and I will make a strong start to the new season in KZN this weekend.”
Hutchison and regular co-driver Achim Bergmann will again contest the Absa off Road Car Championship in 2009 in a brand new four-wheel drive special designed and built by the talented Bergmann and liveried in the familiar black and silver Motorite Racing colours.
Hutchison paid tribute to his team for their hard work preparing both cars for the two different championships and also to his sponsors, Motorite Insurance Administrators, for their continued support.
Motorise Racing is the motor sport division of Motorise Insurance Administrators, the largest independent mechanical breakdown insurance and full maintenance plan service provider and administrator in South Africa.