With Nissan having secured all three major titles on offer in this year’s Absa Off Road Championship for production vehicles (drivers’, co-drivers’ and manufacturers’), it would be natural to assume that there is little to look forward to in the final round at Carnival City this weekend (November 30/December 1).
Wrong! The fact that Nissan and its racing red 4.0-litre V6 Navara pickups have won all seven rounds held so far should not detract from the fact that this year’s has been one of the best and most competitive championships, with up to six potential overall race winners in the Super Production class.
This weekend’s season finale will be no different and the other factory-entered teams and top privateers contesting the premier production category class will be looking to take maximum possible advantage of their opportunity to prevent Nissan from making it a straight eight-win ‘red wash’.
For the record, Duncan Vos (with four race wins) is the new overall production vehicle drivers’ champion after he and Ralph Pitchford won the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga last month ahead of defending champions and team-mates Hannes Grobler and Francois Jordaan. Vos has 138 points to Grobler’s 109 and the maximum Grobler (who has three race wins to his credit) can score at Carnival City is 25 for another win, which would give him a final total of 134.
However, competitors have to drop their worst score at the end of the season, which means that Vos (the only driver to have scored in all seven rounds so far), can afford to finish sixth or lower on Saturday to score less points than his current worst score (11 in round six) and drop these at the end of the day. In fact, he doesn’t even have to finish.
But that would be to underestimate the competitive spirit of the new champion (he also won the title in 2002 in a class D Nissan Hardbody), not to mention ignoring the overall marketing objective of Nissan: to win every round it raced in this year. No manufacturer has won every round in a single year, although Nissan has achieved eight wins in a row in the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Vos and Grobler (who cannot be beaten to the runner-up spot in the drivers’ championship) are also on another mission: to help their co-drivers secure the co-drivers’ championship. Because Ralph Pitchford missed two rounds as a result of overseas commitments (former champion Rickard Leeke stood in on both occasions) he finds himself in second place on 102 points, seven points behind Francois Jordaan. Expect a do-or-die contest between these two teams this weekend. There are no team orders and there’s a lot of pride at stake.
Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and South African co-driver Andrew “VZ” van Zyl will be in action in the third factory Nissan Navara and will be looking to consolidate Tollefsen’s current third place overall in the championship, while the Century Property Developments Navara of Mark Corbett and Rudi Balzar will be sitting this one out as the team prepares for the 2008 Dakar Rally in January.
“Last year we had secured both driver and co-driver titles by the time we got to the final round at Carnival City,” said Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport. “All that remained for us was to win the manufacturers’ title for a sixth successive year. Unhappily, we had a bad day and neither Hannes nor Duncan finished and we missed out on the manufacturers’ championship.
“This year it’s slightly different. We’ve secured our seventh successive driver and co-driver titles and our sixth manufacturers’ championship in seven years. We’ve achieved all our objectives. But the fans — and our rivals — can look forward to another 100% effort from Nissan Motorsport. We’re all very proud of our achievements so far this year and we want to end the season on a high.
“The truth is, we haven’t won at Carnival City since Hannes and Francois took the honours in 2005 in a Nissan Hardbody, so we have a score to settle with the Koepel Club and their year-end race. Also, Ivar has a real shot at making it a Nissan 1-2-3 overall and we’ll be giving him and VZ maximum support.”
Vos has also wrapped up the class SP drivers’ title. Grobler is second and can only be overtaken by third-placed team-mate Tollefsen (who is 16 points behind with a maximum of 20 on offer for a class win). Tollefsen needs to protect his position from Brandon Harcus (Ford Ranger), who is five points behind.
Jordaan leads Pitchford by 12 points in the co-drivers’ race. Tollefsen’s regular co-driver, Englishman Quin Evans, is fourth with 62 points after breaking a leg in a motorcycle accident in England. He will also miss the final round.
Nissan also has a big interest in the outcome of the class D championship, where Nissan privateers are in contention in a closely-fought battle where no less than seven drivers are covered by 17 points (there are 20 points for a class win). Brothers Henri and Maurice Zermatten (Ryobi Nissan Hardbody) are currently second, just five points behind the Weichelt brothers, Cliff and Louis (Toyota Hilux), who have 65 points. Coetzee Labuscagne (Raysonics Nissan Hardbody) is third in the drivers’ category with 58 points, while Jurie du Plessis (BB Auto Group Nissan Hardbody) is fifth with 54 points. Brother Arnold in the second BB Auto Hardbody is seventh with 48 points.
Labuscagne’s co-driver Johan Gerber is sixth in the co-driver standings with 42 points (he had to withdraw from one round when his house burned down), while Andre du Plessis (brother and co-driver to Jurie) is fourth with 54 points. Arnold du Plessis’ co-driver, Johan Knox, is fifth with 48 points.
Also flying the Nissan flag in class D at Carnival City will be the father-and-son combination of Chris du Plooy senior and junior (Retirement Fund Solutions Hardbody).
Nissan interest in class E is with the Barden Tyre Services Hardbody of Thomas Rundle and Brian Roberts, who are sixth in the standings and will be looking for a strong finish to a season in which they have struggled to get the results they expected.
