Limpopo 400 Toyota prologue summary

CASTROL TOYOTA TEAM ADOPT A CAUTIOUS APPROACH IN THE PROLOGUE

Castrol Toyota Hilux crews went into caution mode during the prologue for the Ford Motorite Limpopo 400 tomorrow.

The event is round six of the Absa Off Road Championship and breaks new ground for the off road fraternity. With crews venturing into the unknown the Castrol Toyota squad decided to put discretion ahead of valour."We decided to use the prologue to take a good look at what can be expected during the race," said Toyota Motorsport Manager Wammy Haddad.

"We were more interested in gathering information than setting the fastest times."

It was an approach that paid dividends with the Castrol Toyota Hilux crews emerging almost unscathed from the 40 kilomtere prologue run to determine starting positions for tomorrows race.

The cautious approach, however, did not stop Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin from setting the fastest time in Class D. Cronje's younger brother Gavin and Robin Houghton and Paolo Piazza-Musso and Ockie Fourie in the other Castrol Toyota Hilux 2.7i entries in Class D will start further down the field but enjoyed clean runs.

"Apart from the intense heat it was pretty much what we expected," said Mark Cronje.

"It looks as though it is going to be dusty with some very rough parts mixed in with fast sections.

"We do three loops of 140 kilometres in the race and I think we will all be a bit cautious on the first loop and then decide on the best approach for the rest of the race."

The Tyco Trucks Toyota Hilux pair Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst will start at the front of Class E. Behind them Class E leaders Zane Pearce and Hennie Vosloo and Hugo and Jaap du Bruyn both ran into minor niggles with a broken sideshaft hampering the Pearce entry and a puncture slowing down the de Bruyn's.

Apart from the importance of championship points, the event is also important to Toyota from a commercial point of view. "We are in bakkie country and need to produce good results," said Haddad.

"There were encouraging signs for us today and there is an air of confidence among all the crews."

-toyota.za-