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After a challenging opening round to the 2022 South African National Rally Championship (NRC) in the Western Cape, Toyota Gazoo Racing SA heads to Mpumalanga for rounds two and three.
Taking on the season in the new, locally-built Toyota Starlet rally car, the team could not score points the way they intended in their first outing after experiencing teething problems.
But a few weeks on from Round 1 and having made significant changes to the car, the team is ready to stake its claim at victory at this weekend's Lake Umuzi Rally, staged on the outskirts of Secunda.
One of the team's drivers, Guy Botterill, says they are yet to tap into the car's potential: "The new car is clearly very fast, and we haven't even tapped into its true potential yet. We've made a number of changes to the car since the last event, and we're hoping for better reliability this time around."
The Starlet rally car is the first of its kind to be built and developed by the Durban-based team. And while experience may be lacking in a venture of this nature, the Cape Overberg Rally showed that the car has the pace to run at the front.
"Now we just need to work on the reliability, which is to be expected with a completely new car," continues Botterill. "We'll be pushing hard to make up the ground we lost in the championship during the opening rally, but need to strike a balance between good results and ensuring that we finish both days of the event."
The Lake Umuzi Rally will represent Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2022 SANRC, with the first round taking place on Friday, 10 June. The second round follows on Saturday, utilising different stages.
