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After retiring from the Dakar Rally in January, Hennie de Klerk and his TreasuryONE Motorsport group will likely be approaching the upcoming South African Rally-Raid Championship like it’s a leg on the previous.
He and his co-driver Juan Möhr may have a full package of spare components and instruments onboard their WCT Toyota Hilux, then carry out repairs and modifications themselves with out the assistance of their group when they’re on the service station. The group’s technician Tjaart van der Walt will likely be current to supervise the stops however not get entangled. Below World Rally-Raid Championship guidelines, crews will not be permitted to assist their drivers if they’re caught within the Selective Part and face disqualification if it happens, and de Klerk and Möhr will deal with the service areas as such.
“As we so painfully discovered this 12 months, there’s no tomorrow on the Dakar if you don’t end in the present day,” stated de Klerk. “To that finish, we’ll use our native races to develop our technique to greatest take care of our future Dakar challenges. Meaning concentrating on endurance and reliability, quite than simply pace.”
2024 marked de Klerk’s third Dakar Rally after being the best-finishing rookie within the 2018 version in twenty-eighth adopted by a thirty-fourth in 2020. He returned to the race after 4 years in a new Toyota Hilux T1+ designed by WCT Engineering, which is generally the identical as its counterparts constructed by Toyota Gazoo Racing and Overdrive Racing however much less complicated in order that privateers can afford it. Möhr joined the group after final racing the Dakar in 2016 with Mark Corbett.
The duo fell early as a consequence of a time penalty within the Prologue for a navigation error, then broke a prop shaft early in Stage #2 which compelled them to finish the leg with rear drive solely. They scored their greatest end of thirty-first within the Final class in Stage #4, however one other driveshaft failure and rollover struck through the second half of the Chrono Stage and ended their race.
Three months later, they hope to use the teachings discovered from their expertise to the SARRC and hone their abilities earlier than making an attempt the Dakar once more in 2026. De Klerk may also race the Morocco Desert Challenge in 2025.
“It’s a quite completely different strategy to how we go racing within the South African Rally-Raid Championship this 12 months, however we’re definitely trying ahead to the problem,” he continued. “It’s nice to get again up and racing once more after the downs of Saudi Arabia in January. It is going to be an attention-grabbing season for positive, however all for superb motive.”
The 2024 South African Rally-Raid Championship begins this weekend with the Nkomazi 400.
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