TEAM CASTROL TOYOTA RELIES ON PROVEN FORMULA FOR FIRST ROUND OF ABSA OFF ROAD SERIES
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Team Castrol Toyota team principal, Glyn Hall, has confirmed that the Toyota works team will contest the first rounds of the ABSA Off Road Championship with the two Hilux SP’s that demonstrated their competitiveness towards the end of the 2009 season. The title sponsor will again be Castrol with additional support from the Innovation Group.
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Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton
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“Over the course of last year the Hilux was developed into a very capable competitor in the SP class,” says Glyn Hall. “They won two of the last three events, with one of those wins going to Gary Berthold in the privately entered Atlas Copco Hilux with Anthony Taylor winning the final round in the Magaliesberg in one of the works Castrol backed vehicles. Hein Lategan, in the second Castrol Hilux, missed out on second place in the Magalies 400 by just metres when he suffered fuel surge literally in sight of the finish.
“Mindful of this we have opted to take a reasonably conservative approach for the start of the new season with the Hilux and have not embarked on any major rework of the vehicle but rather focused on a thorough rebuild of the two vehicles. That said, we have made a number of detail improvements and both drivers are very happy with the vehicles after a good pre-event test session.
“As previously announced, Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton will crew one of the vehicles while reigning South African champion, Duncan Vos joins the team together with Rob Howie as his navigator. This gives us a really strong driver line-up with both Anthony and Duncan capable of extracting the best performance out of the Castrol Hilux SPs.
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Duncan Vos
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“The two works Hilux SPs will be supported by a brace of eight very competitive privateer Hilux SPs including Gary Berthold and Andre Vermeulen in the Atlas Copco Hilux; Hannes Grobler and Hennie ter Stege as part of the Retirement Fund Solutions team and Chris Visser together with Japie Badenhorst - all of them capable of race winning pace.
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Hannes Grobler
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“The Nissan Navaras now running under the Regent Racing banner are also certainly capable of a good turn of speed. There’s no shortage of competition in the SP class with new entries set to arrive on the scene after the first few events. I believe we are in for a vintage year of Off Road racing in the ABSA series.”
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