Hennie heads off to Morocco

DE KLERK: TAKING FORD-POWERED AMAROK TO AFRICA’S TOUGH DESERT CHALLENGE

Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel in a SA-built Gazoo Racing Toyota Hilux.

Toyota use the South African Cross Country championship as a testing ground for their international Hilux racers.

Team boss Glyn Hall’s Hallspeed outfit near Kyalami also builds a significant number of race vehicles for export, with the result that there were more Toyota Hiluxs taking part in Dakar 2019 than any other brand.

A total of 13 SA-built Toyota Hilux entries lined up for this year’s Dakar Rally, three racing under the Toyota Gazoo SA banner. Nearly half the Hilux bakkies that started Dakar 2019 completed the event.

But they were not the only SA-built cars taking part in the race.

Red-Lined Motorsport had three of their locally built and developed Nissan Navaras competing at Dakar 2019.

Former South African Cross Country champion Shameer Variawa campaigned one, while Thomas Bell took charge of another. The third car was entered and run by Jurgen Schroder, also no stranger to the South African Cross Country Series.

Ford, through Neil Woolridge Motorsport, has also had a stake in international races for a number of years. However, Dakar 2019 saw only a single SA-built Ford race.

In the hands of Nicolas Fuchs, the bakkie finished a highly respectable 16th.

Ford NWM has 15 Fords competing internationally at present.

Lance Woolridge, defending South African Class T champion, also worked as team manager for the Brazilian Team X-Rally at Dakar 2019, helping the team achieve a sixth and ninth place in the highly competitive SxS category.