Hat-trick hero Dippenaar rules Tara roads
Wilro Dippenaar and Carolyn Swan made Tara rally history by winning the event for a third consecutive time since its inception 55 years ago.
After disembarking from his Ford Fiesta R5, the car that took the punches for this title, Dippenaar said it was not easy.
“We were just trying to get to the end and not taking any chances where it was rocky and a rough terrain,” he said.
The Shell V-Power Tara Rally, the 55th edition of this popular rally, started on Thursday night in the capital at the Tony Rust Race Track.
The teams travelled to Rehoboth on Friday before returning to Windhoek for the third and last day of the rally.
Of the 16 entries, only one did not manage to complete the rally – unlike in the past where multiple teams had to retire from the rally due to technical and other mechanical failures.
Three sisters participated in various roles during the rally: Stephanie Botha behind the wheel and her sister Mandi Landsberg as navigator in their Subaru Impreza impressed with their third place in the S4 class.
Racing against Dippenaar and Allen Martin requires some serious skills.
The third sister, Maretha Olivier, was Martin’s navigator.
The sisters hail from a rally family as their father, Willem Hugo, is a well-known figure on the rally stages and made his mark at several rallies, including the Tara.
Derek Jacobs from the Namibia Motor Sport Federation (NMSF), who acted as the route director and played a vital role in the planning of the routes, before the event said the rally would be won by the team using their heads and not their feet.
It looks like the teams took his advice seriously.
The total distance travelled, including the liaison stages, stretched over just under 500km, of which 186km comprised special and super special stages.
This included both gravel and tarred surfaces.
In the CR2 Class, the battle was just as fierce between the teams of Etienne van den Heever and Willy van Wyk in their BAT Sandmaster and the Renault Duster 5.0L V8 of Ruaan Viviers with Cecil Koorts as navigator.
The clock could have swung in favour of any one of the two teams, but at the end it was the team in the Duster that made it to the finishing line first with a time of 2:11:33 – 23 seconds ahead of the BAT bandmaster.
Veteran Rolf Pretorius (67) has a long and rich history in the local sport arena. His racing career started around 1976, almost 50 years ago, and is still active.
Pretorius and his son Kai as navigator in a Chenoweth Sandmaster ended fourth in the CR2 class.
Pretorius took part in his first Tara in 1978, and won the Tara in a Toyota Corolla with his brother Hans as navigator two years later.
He hinted that he may soon hang up his rally jacket.
Overall, no incidents were reported to officials during the rally.
Results
S4 Class: First place Dippenaar and Swan, second place Martin and Olivier, third place Botha and Landsberg.
S2 Class: First place Zachary Martin and Anique Schoeman, second place Wido Bartsch and Raymond Fourie, and in third place Peer Rohm and Piet Steyn.
S1 Class: First place Pieter Greeff and JP Robinson.
Challenge Class:
CR1 Class: First place Viviers and Koorts, second place Van den Heever and Van Wyk, third place Werner Bartsch and Christel Fourie, and fourth place Pretoruis and Kai.
CR2 class: First place Ekko Eisenberg and Horazio ‘Rassie’ Rietz, second place SJ Schoeman and Chané Havenga, and third place Chrizelda Engels and Ruan de Lange.
The event was mainly sponsored by Shell V-Power, M+Z Motors, Van Dyk Petroleum, Savanna Car Hire, JAC Motors, Kosmos 94.1, and Motor Media Namibia.
Ambulance and medical standby services were provided by OSH-Med International.
The next rally is the Tsumeb Rally, slated for 12 July.
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