KwaZulu Natal, South Africa (Apr 14, 2007)
Nissan Motorsport's Hannes Grobler and Francois Jordaan (class SP Nissan Navara) emerged from a dramatic and incident-filled round two of the Absa Off Road Car Championship as winners of the inaugural Nissan Hluhluwe 400 in KwaZulu Natal on Saturday.
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| Copyright © Nissan South Africa |
It was the defending champions' second successive win after their victory in the season-opening Nissan Dealer 400 in the Western Cape in March. They completed the 400-km race through the canefields, pineapple plantations and bushveld in the Hluhluwe area in a time of 8hr 28m 36s, dramatically crossing the finishing line on three wheels after a rear wheel came off some 7 km earlier.
An impressive second in only their second race in South Africa was the Nissan Motorsport international combination of Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and Quin Evans, who brought their class SP 4.0-litre V6 Navara home 3m 28s behind their experienced team-mates. Fourth overall and securing for Nissan the manufacturers' team prize for the event were former champions Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford in the third Nissan Navara.
Grobler and Jordaan were fastest in Friday's 38-km prologue that established the start order for Saturday's race and, though briefly headed by Bevan Bertholdt/Robin Houghton (Toyota Hilux) when they overshot a turn after sliding on the wet grass early on the first of the race's three laps, they led throughout.
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| Copyright © Nissan South Africa |
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"It was a tough event," said a jubilant Grobler, who was celebrating his 22nd national championship win in 50 starts since 2001. It was Nissan's 39th win from the same number of events. "The route was challenging and fast, the marking was good and Francois and I were very happy to win after losing about four minutes when the Navara overheated and we were forced to stop and clear the mud from the radiator, then the car refused to start and we wasted another minute or so before we were able to get going again."
Tollefsen and Evans had a trouble-free run after starting from seventh position on Saturday. "We are still learning the South African conditions and also the characteristics of the Nissan Navara," said the Norwegian, who has competed in the Dakar Rally and rounds of the Cross Country Rally World Cup.
"The car ran like clockwork and Quin and I thoroughly enjoyed the race."
The next round of 2007 ABSA, round 3 "Sun City 400" will be taken place on 11-12 May.
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