Toyota defends desert race title

Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 29, 2015 18:02

 

Leeroy Poulter with another Toyota vehicle came second followed by Gary Bertholdt in the third position. Evan Hutchison won the special vehicles category with a BAT.

As the only multi-day event on the Donaldson cross-country championship’s calendar, the Kahalahari Botswana 1000 desert race is officially classified as a marathon event, which means that teams scored points on each of the race days individually. The results had a significant impact on the championship standings.

Taylor told Monitor Sport yesterday that he had a good race although his other teammates had a breakdown on the second day. He observed that the terrain was a challenge with a lot of obstacles that needed one to be intelligent to navigate through them.

‘My Toyota teammate Leeroy Poulter is still leading the championship, but I still stand a good chance of doing well. We both did well on the first loop of the competition on Saturday, but unfortunately he had a breakdown yesterday. That gave me an advantage to pull through and get the tittle,’ he said.

Poulter said the breakdown cost him the podium finish because he had to fix the vehicle on the way. He explained that he completed the first heat ten minutes ahead of the pack. He said he will use the outcome of the race as a lesson for the Dakar Rally that will be held in January.

For his part, Hutchison said he had a good race and he had been part of the desert race for many years. He said the terrain was the same as last year, but only few changes. The BAT driver who is a member of the Pretoria Motor Club said he has put a lot of effort preparing for the race and his hard work has yielded good results.

Keith du Toit of BAT Spec II representing Botswana said the race was tough because he had a problem with the steering wheel, which meant he needed time to fix it along the route.  The vehicle also had a flat wheel.

He explained that he completed the first loop only for him to fail to complete the final loop on Sunday.