Results of the Toyota Dealer 400
Lydenburg, Saturday 14th 2012
SP Class: A German amidst the Japanese
There was plenty of drama in the Production Vehicle category, and the standings are still provisional.
Team Castrol Toyota’s boys Vos and Taylor were both penalised for deviating from the route twice in the two loops. Vos and Howie were initially hit with severe penalties, which set them back despite their first and second finishes.
The Toyota factory team hasn’t won a Toyota sponsored event since 1999, when Apie Reyneke and Robin Houghton won the Toyota Desert Race in Botswana.
Castrol Toyota team principal, Glyn Hall, protested against the penalties imposed on Vos and Howie. The stewards made a compromise, scrapping part of the penalties that had initially seen the Toyota teams lose their podium positions. The results stand as follows at the moment (results are provisional, as they’re subject to an appeal to MSA):
1ST (06:25:54)
Duncan Vos and Rob Howie – Team Castrol Toyota
2nd (06:26:09)
Anthony Taylor and Chris Birkin – Team Castrol Toyota
3rd (06:26:22)
Hannes Grobler and Hennie Ter Stege – RFS Motorsport BMW
4th (06:27:11)
Pikkie Labuscagne and Rikus Erasmus – Ruwacon Toyota Hilux
5th (06:52:36)
Deon Venter and Ian Palmer – 4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux
6TH: D05 N1 Cliff Weichelt and Johann Smalberger – Toyota Land Cruiser (06:53:24) – 2ND successive Class D victory
7TH: SP02 Terence Marsh and George Smalberger – Nissan Navara (06:54:03)
8TH: SP06 Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst – Ford Ranger (07:00:26)
9TH: SP12 Kobus van Tonder and Freddie Kriel – Ford Ranger (07:04:38)
10TH: D99 Johan Horn and Werner Horn – Toyota Land Cruiser (07:04:38)
11TH: E02 Dirk Putter and Jacobus Claassens – Toyota Hilux (07:08:21) – also penalised by clerk of the course
12TH: SP11 Gary Bertholdt and Ralph Pitchford – Toyota Hilux (07:21:41)
13TH: SP34 Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable – Ford Ranger (07:37:14)
14TH: E22 Rowan Lamb and Lyle Parker – Ford Ranger (08:10:25)
15TH: Jason Venter and Vincent van Alleman – Toyota Hilux (08:15:53)
16TH: Jack Oosthuizen and Sarel Oosthuizen – Land Rover Defender (08:17:08)
Did not finish:
Louis Weichelt / Maret Bezuidenhout – Toyota Land Cruiser
Jaco Visser / Werner Weiss – Toyota Hilux
Diederik Hattingh / Buks Cilliers – Toyota 3D4D
Johan Griffioen / Willem Marais – Toyota D4D
Jannie Visser / Le Roux – Toyota Hilux
Hugo de Bruyn / Henri Hugo – Toyota Hilux
Christiaan du Plooy / Henk Janse van Vuuren – BMW X3
Hennie de Klerk / Keith Solomon – Toyota Hilux
Willem Vos / Dana Vos – BMW
Louw de Bruin / Riaan Greyling – Ford Ranger
Archie Rutherford / Mathew Carlson – Nissan Navara
Graham Leith / Trevor Leith – Ford Ranger
Round Three:
The next event on the championship calendar is the Atlas Copco Timbertrack 400 in Richmond, in KwaZulu-Natal, on May 18 and 19.