Nissan Motorsport
July 2009

Nissan aiming for 11th successive off road win this weekend

This weekend’s (July 24/25) Sun City 400 in North West Province marks the start of the second half of the eight-round Absa Off Road Championship and sees Nissan aiming to extend their unbeaten run to 11 races since the Eastern Cape 400 last year.

The Nissan Motorsport team of Duncan Vos/Ralph Pitchford, Hannes Grobler/Juan Mohr and Norwegian/British pairing Ivar Erik Tollefsen/Quin Evans all compete in the premier Super Production class in Donaldson-supported Nissan Navaras. Vos, the reigning driver’s champion, and Pitchford, co-driver’s champion in 2005, currently lead the championship with 90 points.

Tollefsen and Evans, who finished an impressive fourth overall on the ultra marathon Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile in January in their South African-built Navara, are second with 55 points. Four-times driver’s champion Grobler and defending co-driver’s champion Mohr are fourth with 44 points.

The popular North West Province event has been won for the past two year’s by Nissan, with Grobler and Mohr victorious in 2008 in their first national championship success together and Vos and Pitchford first across the finish line at Sun City in 2007.

With three wins from their first four races this year, Vos and Pitchford are well on their way to their first championship together. Pitchford missed two of last year’s events, with Vos winning both the Eastern Cape 500 and the Toyota Desert Race with stand-in co-drivers.

Grobler’s win in last year’s Sun City 400 was the start of a three-race winning streak with Mohr that saw the pair finish the season with the same number of points as Vos. Grobler missed out on a fifth driver’s championship in a count out of overall wins, with Vos taking the title by virtue of his four wins to Grobler’s three. It was the closest championship finish in the history of local off road racing.

Their win in the Nissan Sugarbelt 400 in KwaZulu Natal in May was Grobler and Mohr’s first this year and they will be hoping for another second half of the season run of successes.

Tollefsen and Evans, who fly out to South Africa for each event and who credit their experience in the local championship over the past two years for their great performance in the Dakar Rally in South America, are having their best year to date. They have finished all four events they have competed in with a best result of second on the Nissan Sugarbelt.

“Things are looking good for us at this stage of the season, but there is no room for over-confidence,” warned Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport. “We still have four tough events ahead of us and we can’t afford to take anything for granted. We’re just concentrating on preparing our cars as thoroughly as we can and relying on the crews to bring home the results. So far they’re doing a great job for us.”

Backing up the factory team in class SP will be the privateer Regent Racing Nissan Navara of former special vehicle champion Terence Marsh and Pieter Groenewald. Marsh has made steady progress in his first season in the production vehicle category in the Navara raced by Vos in 2008 and will be looking to improve on his best result to date of sixth on the season-opening Adenco 400 in the Western cape..

Leading contenders in class D, veterans Coetzee Labuscagne and Johan Gerber, have experienced an ongoing problem with fuel pressure on their Raysonics Nissan Hardbody. Four successive retirements is not a true reflection of this team’s capabilities and they can be expected to once again contest class honours this weekend.

Nissan’s lone representative in class E is the Ferodo-backed Nissan Hardbody of Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie. Poulter is making his debut in off road racing this year after a successful track racing career that saw him win production car titles. A European and world karting champion in the Rotax Max DD2 class, he has adapted well to the new challenge and has shown he has the pace to outperform his rivals and take a maiden class win.

He and Howie were impressive prologue class winners in the recent Toyota Desert Race with the 10th best time overall. They were leading their class on day one when they were stopped in their tracks with a broken front stub axle.

Nissan Acknowledges Its Sponsors and Specialist Official Supplier and Technical Partners
Nissan Motorsport enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with Atlas Copco (pneumatic tools), Bosch Automotive, Champion (spark plugs), Donaldson (air filters), Edgecam (machining software specialists), Eibach (springs), Ferodo (brake pads), First Car Rental, LUK (clutches), Mastercraft (tools), Pro Engineering, Sasol Oil (fuels and lubricants) and SKF (bearings).

Picture: Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford, Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr, Ivar Tollefsen and Quin Evans
Pictures courtesy of Quickpic

Issued by Nissan..

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