Nissan’s Darren Lobb Third in South Africa Off-road Championship

Former national champion Hannes Grobler and co-driver Juan Mohr were convincing winners of the production vehicle category of the Sun City 400 on Saturday in their Sasol-supported Nissan Navara to give Nissan Motorsport its second successive victory in the event.

It was their first win together since teaming up at the start of the season and, while it was the veteran Grobler’s 24th victory in the past seven and a half seasons, it was Mohr’s first time on the top step of the podium in the production vehicle category of the Absa Off Road Car Championship.

Nissan also won the manufacturers’ team challenge for the day with the factory Nissan Navaras of Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and Briton Quin Evans finishing fourth and reigning champion Duncan Vos and co-driver Ralph Pitchford coming in a creditable fifth after starting from the back of the field.

Grobler and Mohr enjoyed a trouble-free run in Saturday’s 380-km main event after winning Friday’s 70-km prologue, which determined the start order. Tollefsen and Evans started fifth and might well have secured a podium place had they not been slowed by three punctures.

Vos and Pitchford, winners of last year’s event, suffered the severe setback of a broken propshaft and then a front driveshaft failure on the prologue and were forced to start from 52nd position in the mixed field of production and special vehicles, 51 minutes behind Grobler and Mohr. They fought their way up to 22nd place in the combined field by the compulsory halfway stop at the designated service point at Sun City, recording the fastest time for the first 190-km loop despite stopping to replace a flat wheel. They were delayed by a further two punctures, but managed to cross the finish line at Sun City in 12th place overall and fifth in the production vehicle category.

On July 25th, Nissan South Africa has announced plans to export a race-tuned version of the Nissan Navara pick-up to Russia. Nissan will explore export potential to other global markets.

Source - Press Release

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