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• Victory on first outing for all-new FIA-class Ford Ranger.
• Lance Woolridge and Elvéne Vonk (#334) got their 2021 SA Cross Country Series (SACCS) campaign off to a perfect start at the Mpumalanga 400.
• The FIA-Class Ranger is proudly built in South Africa by Neil Woolridge Motorsport.
• For more motoring stories, go to Wheels24
The opening round of the 2021 South African Cross Country Series (SACCS) - the Mpumalanga 400 in Dullstroom - saw a dream debut for the all-new FIA-class Ford Ranger, which scored an impressive victory in its first race.
The all-new Ranger, which was designed and built by Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) - and is powered by Ford's 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 EcoBoost engine - is the first vehicle to compete in South Africa under the FIA's new turbocharged petrol regulations for international cross country racing, and one of the first in the world.
Despite this being the first competitive outing for the Ford Castrol Cross Country Team's highly-anticipated new contender, having to conquer extremely challenging conditions over a rough, rocky, and rain-soaked 450km route along with a formidable line-up of pedigreed rivals, Lance Woolridge and co-driver Elvéne Vonk (#334) powered their way to the fastest time on Friday's opening qualifying sprint, and maintained this impressive form to secure the overall win on Saturday afternoon.
A fantastic result
An elated Lance said: "What a fantastic result for the team to reward all their hard work designing, building and testing the new Ranger, and it's great to once again be on the top step of the SACCS podium. It was a really tough event, but the car handled everything we threw at it, and I've been very impressed with how it performed."
The 2021 Mpumalanga 400 trophy sets another historic milestone for 29-year-old Woolridge, as he scored a remarkable victory for the previous-generation V8-powered NWM Ford Ranger at its first race in March 2013 - thus making it a double-header of debut wins in the premier class of the SACCS, eight years apart. Lance subsequently earned the 2018 and 2019 Class T championships before moving up to the new FIA-class last year in a slightly upgraded version of the Ranger V8.
WATCH: Ford's new FIA-Class Ranger put through it paces ahead of season-opener
Neil Woolridge Motorsport and Ford had further reason to celebrate, as all four NWM-supported privateer Class T Rangers that entered the Mpumalanga 400 completed the arduous event. Malcolm and Frans Kock (#T04) finished second, ahead of Christo Rose and Arno Olivier (#T58) in third - a commendable performance considering it was the latter crew's first outing in the Production Vehicle category after moving up from the side-by-side class for this season.
Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen (#T41) brought their NWM Ford Ranger V8 home in fourth place, followed by Bernard and Minette Johnstone (#T22) in their first race in the Ranger.
The recently launched Ford NWM Development Team of Wiseman Gumede and Fanifani Meyiwa used the Mpumalanga 400 as an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of cross country racing, under the guidance of team mentor Ward Huxtable, in preparation for their upcoming first race.
The next race is the Sugarbelt 400 in Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, on 21-22 May 2021.
