The factory Proudly South African Nissan Navara’s of Hannes Grobler/Francois Jordaan and Duncan Vos/Ralph Pitchford took the first two places and are separated by 19 seconds. Third were Mark Corbett and Juan Mohr in the Century Property Development Nissan Navara, with the vehicle making a lone South African appearance before being taken over by a European crew on the 2007 Paris Dakar Rally.
Grobler and Jordaan currently lead the overall championship with arch rivals Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer, in the factory Ford Racing ranger, leading the Super Production Class. Woolridge and Skjoldhammer were fourth overall and in the SP Class to set up an interesting clash with the Nissan trio.
The three Nissan crews all reported clean runs. For Corbett and Mohr it will be a tune-up race for the pair who will compete in a round of the FIA Cross Country World Cup in Dubai next month.
Looking for a win on their own event were Castrol Toyota Hilux crews Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin and Bevan Bertholdt and Robin Houghton, who were fifth and six respectively. Nissan have won four times this season and Ford twice, and the Toyota crews are keen for a victory.
“I think both Bevan and I could have gone a little faster this afternoon, but it was rough and we did not want to break the vehicles on the prologue,” said Cronje. “It is the race that matters and I think we could spring a surprise.”
Championship leaders Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the Tyco Trucks Toyota Hilux, set the pace in Class D ahead of the Raysonics Nissan Hardbody driven by Coetzee Labuscagne and Johan Gerber. Visser and Badenhorst will be looking for their fifth win of the season this weekend to wrap up the Class D championship.
Also looking to wrap up a title this weekend will be Manfred Schroder and Ward Huxtable. in the Ford Racing Ranger. The KwaZulu-Natal pair lead Class E by a healthy margin and, as expected, came in first in class on the prologue.
Schroder/Huxtable were followed by Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux (Toyota Hilux) and George and Sharon Barkhuizen in the Ruwacon Toyota Hilux. Next up was the factory Castrol Toyota Hilux of Brian Martin/Ockie Fourie with the Toyota crews looking for an upset victory.
The Toyota Dealer 400 starts at Lydenburg Toyota at 08h00 tomorrow and will be run over three loops of approximately 130 kilometres. A designated service area will operate from the Lydenburg rugby field with the first car expected at the finish at around 15h00.
