SECOND STAGE WIN FOR TERRANOVA AND TOYOTA IN MOROCCO

The South African flag continued to fly strongly in the OiLibya Rally of Morocco yesterday with Argentine off road racer Orlando Terranova and Spanish co-driver Lucas Cruz taking their South African-built Team Overdrive Toyota Hilux to its second stage victory in three days.

On day four of the six-day 2 120-km race from Ouarzazate and Zagora, they completed the 245-km Le Rodeo des Sables stage in a time of 2 hours 32 minutes and 18 seconds.  Second, a distant 8 min 21 sec in arrears, was the Buggy of French pair Pascal Thomasse and Pascal Larroque.  Current rally leaders Bernhard Ten Brinke of the Netherlands and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel finished third in a Mitsubishi Lancer 8 min 45 sec behind the winning Toyota.

After hitting a ditch and rolling the Toyota in the opening stage on Monday, and picking up a 10-hour penalty, Terranova and Cruz are no longer in contention for an overall win in the Moroccan event, which they are using as a practice outing in their new Toyota Hilux before tackling the Dakar Rally in South America in January.

They bounced back strongly with a maiden stage win on Tuesday and their second stage win sees them improve their overall position from 23rd to 16th, although they are more than 13 hours behind the leaders.

“We are very happy with our new Toyota,” said Terranova.  “It has many improvements and we have done well since my mistake in the first stage.  We are learning a lot and this will be a great help for the Dakar.”

Glyn Hall, team principal of Toyota Motorsport in South Africa, who built the racing Hilux for the Belgian Overdrive team in its workshops near Kyalami, is also happy ahead of Toyota Motorsport’s own entry in the Dakar Rally with two Toyota Hilux double cab pickups backed by Imperial Toyota, Duxbury Netgear and the Innovation Group.

“Two stage wins in the first four days is very encouraging,” Hall admitted.  “Orlando and Lucas are doing a great job and we’re getting valuable feedback on our proudly
South African bakkie ahead of January’s Dakar.”

Hall will lead an all-South African team to the 2012 Dakar Rally, which will be run over a 9 000 km route in Argentina, Chile and Peru from January 1 to 14 with a ceremonial finish in the Peruvian city of Lima on January 15.  Drivers of the two Imperial Toyota South Africa Team Hilux double cabs will be former South African off road champion and 2009 Dakar Rally winner Giniel de Villiers and four-times SA champion Duncan Vos. 

21st October 2011