Home / Features / Action-packed National Rally Championship returns to Tzaneen after 16 years – Photos

Action-packed National Rally Championship returns to Tzaneen after 16 years – Photos

This weekend TopAuto attended the 2022 National Rally Championship (NRC) with the team from Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) as the event returned to Tzaneen, Limpopo for the first time in 16 years.

The NRC featured two days of action-packed racing through the unforgiving forests around Tzaneen, as well as a thrilling night stage in the heart of the town where main roads were cordoned off and spectators lined the sidewalks.

Keeping up with the rally was equally as exciting as being on the sidelines, with convoys of cars and people making their way from one side of the town to the other between stages to catch a glimpse of the racing drivers in action.

As dust rose from the woods and the roar of the rally cars shot through the trees there were cheers, whistles, and laughter – the spectators’ high spirits were almost tangible, and very much infectious.

Day one

On Friday 12 August, round 7 of the 2022 NRC had 16 teams compete for pole position with spectacular sprints, amazing drifts, suspenseful blunders, and unforeseen mechanical failures resulting in an emotional day of racing.

After completing seven stages, two of which were at night, TGRSA’s Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle took home the crown with an impressive 2-minute 11.1-second lead over the rest of the pack.

Botterill and Vacy-Lyle finished in a total time of 1:18:35.1 in the new Toyota Starlet rally racer that the Durban-based team built in-house for the first time only a few months before.

In second place came Potgieter Racing’s JJ Potgieter and Tommy du Toit in a heavily-modified Hyundai i20, with an overall time of 1:20:46.2.

Third was occupied by Jono van Wyk and Ingrid Jeacocks in a feisty Ford Fiesta with a final time of 1:22:31.2.

Day two

Day two, round 8 of the 2022 NRC saw 20 teams battle it out.

Potgieter and Du Toit in the i20 continued their stunning performance from the previous day and finished first after completing seven stages in a total of 1:13:43.5.

After registering a DNF (did not finish) the day before, Theuns Joubert and Schalk van Heerden in their Toyota Yaris stepped up to the plate and raced to finish with an overall second place in a time of 1:15:49.5.

Third again went to Van Wyk and Jeacocks in the Fiesta, finishing the series in 1:16:10.1.

Unfortunately, round 7’s first-place duo Botterill and Vacy-Lyle were struck by a series of technical issues in stage 8 and were forced to retire from the race with a DNF.

TGRSA’s new recruit

Botterill, Vacy-Lyle, and the mighty Starlet weren’t all that TGRSA brought along for the momentous 2022 Tzaneen Rally.

Mandla Mdakane made his rally debut during the weekend alongside veteran navigator Kes Naidoo, racing under the TGRSA banner in the Class S2000 Toyota Auris.

Mdakane previously competed in the GTC series for TGRSA and showed consistently good results, and he has now moved over to try his hand on the dirt.

Unfortunately, Mdakane’s debut was soured by a gearbox failure on day one which put him out of the running for the night stages while the engineers were repairing the Yaris.

He rolled up to the starting line on day two with no reverse gear ready to face the treacherous tracks again, but misfortune struck once more and electrical problems made for an abrupt end to Mdakane’s first rally championship and a second DNF.

Two stages remain for this year’s NRC which will take place in Delmas, Mpumalanga on 16-17 September. If the opportunity arises to take part in any way, I highly recommend it.

The below photos show but a few of the amazing moments from the Tzaneen leg of the 2022 NRC.


2022 National Rally Championship Tzaneen


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