Former South African champion Duncan Vos and Rob Howie clinched their second win in the ABSA Off Road championship.
The pair started behind their team-mates Anthony Taylor and Chris Birkin, but the latter lost a few valuable places after they suffered an early puncture. This put Vos and Howie – from the SP Class – in the lead, a position they held until the end.
Vos had the following to say about the route and the conditions: “It was a very difficult race with a tough route and tricky conditions. It was tight and slippery and the slightest lapse in concentration was going to cost you.”
The “tricky conditions” included intermittent drizzle while mist. This lead to race officials cutting out a chunk of the second 175 km loop of the race for safety reasons.
Vos and Howie finished an impressive 22 minutes ahead of Gary Bertholdt and Ralph Pitchford.
Third place was taken by Alfie Cox and his German co-driver Jurgen Schroder, racing in their PS Laser Nissan Navara.
Taylor and Birkin finished in fourth place, ahead of the RFS BMW X3 piloted by former SA chamption Hannes Grobler and Hennie ter Stege.
The next race on the series calendar is the Toyota 1000 Desert Race. This is the only marathon event on the calendar and takes place in Botswana from 22 to 24 June.