Cross Country series back on the dirt in Bothaville

After a long Covid-19 enforced break, the 2021 South African Cross Country Series will resume this weekend, with rounds four and five of the championship, the 4×4 Mega World 400 at Nampo Park outside Bothaville in the Free State.

Topping the Production Vehicle category will be the Gazoo Racing Toyota Hilux crews of Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy and Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings.

Taking them on will be a wide and diverse entry of 20 FIA category cars, led by the Lance Woolridge/Elvéne Vonk (Ford Castrol Ranger), the Brian Baragwanath/ Leonard Cremer Century Racing CR6, Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (Toyota Hilux), Ford Castrol Range of Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer and the third Gazoo Racing Toyota Hilux of Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen.

Red-Lined Motorsport will field four teams, led by Conrad Rautenbach/Riaan Greyling in the all-new Red-Lined REVO. Also in the team will be Thomas Bell/ Bruno Jacomy, Philip Botha/Roelof Janse van Vuren and Eben Basson/ Gerhard Schutte, all in Red Lined Nissan Navaras.

Others to watch must include Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne (Century Racing CR6), Mark Corbett/ Rodney Burk (CR6), Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit (CR5), Gary Bertholdt/Siegfried Rousseau (Toyota Hilux), Jason Venter/Jaco van Aardt (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) and Johan/Sean van Staden (Moto-Netix Renault Duster).

Leading Class T will be Malcolm/ Frans Kock (NWM Ford Ranger), challenged by teams like Johan/ Werner Horn (Malalane Toyota Hilux), Wors Prinsloo/André Vermeulen (Toyota Hilux) and Christo Rose/Arno Olivier, (NWM Ford Ranger).

Heading up the Special Vehicle category will be topped by Lance Trethewey/Adriaan Roets (King Price Xtreme Porter), facing off against Boela Botes/Jay Pretorius (King Price Porter), Lood du Preez/Tiaan Swart (Farmers Meat Stryker) and Sandra/Jaco Labuschagne-Jonck (Moto-Netix KEC BAT Viper)

Victory favourites in Class G will be the Larney brothers, Cecil and Elardus (Ride Fox Africa Can-Am Maverick), are now leading Class G and are third in the overall standings after winning the recent Toyota Gazoo 1 000 Desert Race in Upington.

Werner/Leon Mostert (King Price Xtreme Can-Am) lead Class G for SideXSide vehicles, challenged by Kent Rutherford/Kabelo Mokanyane (Enza Construction Can-Am ), Bazil Bezuidenhout/Rikus Hattingh Moto-Netix Can-Am) and Geoff Minnitt/Gerhard Snyman (Can-Am Maverick).

On Friday, the 4×4 Mega World 400 will start with a 15 km Pirelli Qualifying Race sprint to determine the starting order for the main race that will start at 9:30 am. Then competitors will tackle a 180 km loop towards the east of Nampo Park twice, in round four of the title chase.

The fifth round of the championship on Saturday, 2 October will start with a 15 km sprint, followed by the main race over 360 km  towards the west of Nampo Park.

Due to Covid-19 19 restrictions, spectators are not allowed at the event. Enthusiasts can follow the action on the RallySafe App that can be downloaded free of charge for iOS and Android devices..