- 1st overall on Round 7 of SANRC for Botterill/Vacy-Lyle
- Baptism of fire for Mdakane
- Withdrawals on Round 8 for TGRSA
The Tzaneen National Rally brought mixed results for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA (TGRSA), with Guy Botterill and co-driver Simon Vacy-Lyle winning Round 7 of the event, which took place on Friday, 12 August 2022, in the area around the Limpopo town of Tzaneen. The Tzaneen National Rally represented Round 7 and 8 of the 2022 South African National Rally Championship (NRC), and saw Global Touring Car (GTC) driver Mandla Mdakane make his rally debut, with co-driver Kesavan Naidoo beside him.
Things started with a bang for Botterill, when the KZN-based driver blitzed all but one of the six stages that made up Round 7 of the championship. In the end, the Toyota Starlet crew won the round by 2min 11.1sec, earning maximum points for the day as a result.
“We are very pleased with our performance on Friday,” said Botterill after the rally. “We detuned the car slightly in order to make sure that we reached the finish, and it clearly paid off. The Starlet ran beautifully, and we felt that we stood a good chance for a repeat performance on Round 8.”
But it wasn’t to be. The TGRSA crew won the opening stage of the day, but then experienced issues with one of the injectors on their car’s engine. The problem started as a misfire in Stage 3, but it quickly became clear that continuing with the rally could result in significant engine damage. With that in mind, the team decided to withdraw from the remainder of the event.
“It was a disappointing finish to our weekend, especially after the win on Friday,” concluded Botterill. “But in the end, we felt it was the right decision, and we’ll be back to fight another day.”
At the same time, teammate Mandla Mdakane was forced to retire twice in as many days, as he picked up gearbox problems in the aging Toyota Auris S2000 car that he drove during the event.
“It was a bit disappointing from a reliability point of view, but I certainly learnt a lot regardless of these challenges,” said Mdakane. “The key for me will be to get as much seat time as possible before the next event, as I’m sure the team will sort out the issues with the car in time for the next event.”
The TGRSA NRC team will next be in action at the Delmas Rally in Mpumalanga, as the penultimate event of the year. With scoring opportunities running out, Botterill will be keen to make every rally count from here on in, and the mid-September Delmas Rally will be critical in his quest to recapture the crown as South African National Rally Champion – a title that he has held for a number of years in the past.
ENDS
