Team Castrol Toyota won the battle and the war with a one/two result on the Gold 400, the final round of the Absa Off Road Championship. Anthony Taylor and Chris Birkin scored their first win of the season but second place was enough for team-mates Duncan Vos and Rob Howie to clinch the Production Vehicle and premier SP Class championships. For Vos it was South African title number five with Howie tasting championship success for the first time – and the pair will go to next year’s Dakar Rally in South America as undisputed South African champions.
Vos and Howie went into the race knowing that even a non-finish would give them the Production Vehicle title ahead of former champions Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the factory Ford Racing Ranger, who were in a must win situation.
The SP Class title, however, was up for grabs in a straight fight between the two Team Castrol Toyota crews and the Ford pair with a disappointing seventh finally blowing Visser and Badenhorst out of contention.
Both Taylor/Birkin and Vos/Howie reported cleans runs with two minutes and 21 seconds separating the two crews at the finish. Vos and Howie, in turn, had a two minute and 48 second advantage over Christiaan du Plooy and Henk Janse van Vuuren in the RFS BMW X3.
Behind the first three only 53 seconds separated the next three cars with Harrismith pair Kobus van Tonder and Freddie Kriel (UniFreight Ford Ranger) leading home last year’s overall and SP Class champions Jannie Visser/Joks le Roux (International Toyota Hilux) and veteran former champions Hannes Grobler and Hennie ter Stege in the second RFS BMW X3. For Van Tonder/Kriel it was their best result of the year with the race providing an emotional end to a 36 year career in motorsport for the ever popular Grobler.
Youngsters Jason Venter and Vincent van Alleman left the best for last with victory in Class D in the 4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux.
Another victory put the final touches to a remarkable season for Class E champions Dirk Putter and Koos Claasens in the 4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux.
