Six out of six for Botterill and a good finish for the regional competitors too
The Toyota Gazoo Racing SA rally stars, Guy Botterill and navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle, are the 2020 South African National Rally (NRC) championships.
The pair, unbeaten throughout the season and driving a Class 4 Toyota Etios, won the TracN4 Rally held on November 27 and 28 in Dullstroom.
Winning rounds 5 and 6, the pair took the 2020 shortened season with a perfect score of six out of six victories.
They were followed by Theuns Joubert and Carl Peskin (Toyota Yaris S2000), with JJ Potgieter and Tommy du Toit (Ford Fiesta R2N) completing the top-three podium positions.
The event presented the Theunissens from Sabie, competing in regional NRC1 and 4 respectively, with mixed success.
Yvonne and Bianca Theunissen in an Opel Corsa (NRC 1) had to throw in the towel at the end of stage 2 due to overheating problems and a blown head gasket.
They lost the radiator pipe about five kilometres from the end of stage 2.
“We were doing well up to this point and in fact, we were quicker through stage 1 than my dad. The roads were narrow and this suited the front-wheel drive. But no way could we continue to stage 3,” said Bianca.
Be that as it may, they are already planning and preparing for the 2021 season.
Nick and Patricia started stage one with a broken right rear lower control arm. It broke on the way to stage 1 but they did not realise it at the time.
“Soon into the stage though, it became clear that something is wrong,” said Nick.
“Every time I stepped on the brakes on pulled the handbrake into a corner the right side would kind of collapse. We checked it out at the service point just before stage 5, strapped it up, fitted smaller wheels at the rear and decided to just finish the race no matter what.
It was difficult because, with such a big car, I need space in the corners for the side-stepping rear end. The recent scraping of the roads in preparation for this rally, left large stones on the side of the road which one had to, especially with rear wheel-driven cars, avoid at all costs.”
Nick finished the regional rally 4th in NRC4 and 11th overall.
“I am okay with this considering the mechanical problems we had. At least I can celebrate my coming of age, 21 years, in rallying in 2020 with a finished event,” concluded Nick.
To conclude 2020, Autodealer Lowveld will bring you a historic look at Nick’s 21 years of rallying – so watch out for our December 8 publication.
Photos: Andre Laubscher. Photo Guy Botterill – Motorpress
