Botswana, South Africa (June 17, 2007)
Nissan Motorsport celebrated its sixth successive outright victory in the Toyota 1000 Desert Race, round four of the Absa Off Road Championship, in Botswana on Sunday when Duncan Vos and Richard Leeke took the chequered flag in Gaborone in their Sasol-supported Super Production class Nissan Navara 4.0 V6.
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| Copyright © Nissan South Africa |
They completed the 1000-km two-day event in a time of 14 hr 53 min 49 sec and were 6 min 12 sec ahead of Nissan privateers Mark Corbett and Rudi Balzar (Century Property Developments Navara). And Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and Briton Quin Evans in their Sasol-supported Navara was in the Sixth overall. These results combining with Vos/Leeke and Corbett/Balzer was to give Nissan the manufacturers' prize for the event.
It was Vos's second successive win in this year's championship after he and regular co-driver Ralph Pitchford took the honours in the recent Sun City 400. Business commitments prevented Pitchford from competing and allowed Leeke, a multiple national off road and rally co-driver champion, to score a record eighth Desert Race success dating back to 1984.
Nissan have now won each of the first four rounds of this year's Absa Off Road Championship and, thanks to excellent support from Nissan privateers, enjoy a healthy lead in the manufacturers' championship.
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| Copyright © Nissan South Africa |
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Reigning national champions Hannes Grobler and Francois Jordaan, winners of the first two events this year, were forced to retire early on Sunday morning with front suspension problems while lying second behind Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn (Toyota Hilux). They had finished Saturday's 460-km route in second place, just 28 seconds behind the De Bruyns, and were pushing hard for the lead when they were stopped in their tracks.
The De Bruyns lost the lead to the Super Production Toyota Hilux of Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin just before the halfway point of Sunday's 460-km route when their propshaft broke.
Vos and Leeke, who had finished the first day in fourth place, 31 seconds behind Cronje and Birkin, pressured the Toyota pair throughout Sunday before taking over the lead after the obligatory service stop when Cronje hit a donkey and crashed into a tree stump, breaking the Toyota's propshaft.
"We pushed both Hugo and Mark very hard, but the dust and very tight route made overtaking difficult," said Vos. "We were able to catch up, but to get past you had to take too big a risk."
"The Nissan Navara performed faultlessly," said a delighted Leeke. "We didn't have to do any mechanical repair work on the car throughout the race."
The next round of the Absa Off Road Championship is the Sunshine Coast 400 in the Eastern Cape on July 27 and 28.
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