With Steve Mearns out for most of the season following his Tour Natal rally injuries, Michele Lupini and Steve Grobbelaar will return to action in the Sabat Tazz in the Total Rally South Africa from 10 – 12 April. –
– Mearns, who is back home and already helping out to a degree at the office, suffered serious head injuries in an accident at the Tour, which will see him sidelined for quite a while to come. So car owner Lupini and his regular navigator Grobbelaar will crew the rebuilt Sabat Tazz they have driven to good effect in the past, until Mearns is ready to take the wheel again. –
– “We put Steve in the car for the year because I had a little too much work pressure with the magazine going monthly from May,” Cars in Action Publisher Lupini admitted. “But he’s out until his doctors say he can drive again, so Steve (Grobbelaar) and I are back in the faithful Sabat Tazz for the time being…” –
– “The car has been totally rebuilt after the crash, and I must complement Gary, Brian and the team for their effort to get the job done so quickly,” Lupini continued. “We also need to thank Lusio Panel Beaters, Toy-Toy Used Spares and Signs for You for their unhesitant help to get the job done, but we’ll be ready and looking forward to a good result in the Total Rally SA for all the right reasons.” –
– The Sabat team has also taken the opportunity to affect a number of improvements and alterations to the Tazz, which the team hopes will be most competitive in the year’s longest rally. “We’re hoping that the Sasol fuelled, Dunlop shod Sabat Tazz will be as competitive as ever this weekend,” navigator Grobbelaar confirmed. “The class is hugely competitive and we’ve got our work cut out, but I’m sure Mick is up to it and the Sabat Tazz will be ready for the best…” –
– The Sabat Tazz’ adventures will be chronicled in every issue of Motorsport Africa magazine, which together with Cars in Action goes monthly from May. It’s biggest competition should come from the similar Class A5 Toyota Tazz 1300s, including Rodney Visagie and Carolyn Swan’s Total example, the Toy-Toy car of Mike Houghton and Bryn Doherty, Allan Worms and Lewellen Fourie’s Lessan Tazz. Other rivals include the Sasol Dual Fuel VW Chico Junior Teams of Nkhosinathi Nzimandli and Fanifani Meyiwe and Gugu Zulu and Uwe Koch. –
– The Total Rally SA is the second round of the 2003 SA rally championship and starts at Zwartkops raceway west of Pretoria on Thursday evening 10 March, before heading via Witbank to Ermelo on Friday and finishing in Badplaas on Saturday. –
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