After his excruciating exit from the recent ARC Equator Rally, the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA rally team of Guy Botterill and navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle believe they still have unfinished business with the tough Kenya terrain.
Guy and Simon left their car in Nairobi following the conclusion of the FIA African Rally Championship Equator Rally and announced plans to tackle June’s WRC Safari Rally Kenya with a more powerful machine as well as instil caution and aggression.
Guy said: “After seeing how tough Safari routes are, my team has been compelled to come back to Kenya well equipped and with more spare parts. We will be changing the engine and gearbox before Safari,” said Guy who struggled through the entire Equator Rally route said.
The all-South African crew kissed the Kenyan round goodbye after being time barred out of service, where it took them a little more time to fix their problems. By the time of his exit, the South Africans were lying third.
Guy and Simon jointly lead the ARC alongside Kenyan Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo on 30points. Tundo got maximum points during Equator Rally while Guy won last year’s Bandama Rallye of Ivory Coast, where his maximum points tally was carried forward to the 2021 ARC log.
But Tundo has since indicated that he will not be challenging for the ARC title currently held by Manvir Baryan of Kenya.
After his flying start in Bandama, Guy rounded off last year’s SA Nation Rally Championship (NRC) in emphatic fashion by making a clean sweep in the TracN4 Rally held on November 27-28, 2020.
The duo were victorious in Rounds 5 and 6 and continued their unbeaten run in the 2020 season in their Toyota Etios and took the shortened season with a perfect score of six out of six victories. This year’s Equator Rally acted as a dry run for the WRC Safari Rally Kenya.
ARC LOG AFTER EQUATOR
1=Carl Flash Tundo (KEN) 30
1=Guy Botterill (SA) 30
3. Tejveer Rai (KEN) 24
4. Jas Mangat (UG) 21
5. Giancarlo Davite (RWA) 19
6. Onkar Rai (KEN) 17
