Motorsports
Onroad, F1, Offroad, you name it - if there can be a winner (and a loser), add it here
Atlas Copco Timbertrack 400 presents new challenge for Toyota Motorsport
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-05-14 09:15
Buoyed by its emphatic 1-2 success in the previous round in Mpumalanga in April, Toyota Motorsport’s team of Duncan Vos/Rob Howie and Anthony Taylor/Chris Birkin and their Castrol Toyota Hilux double cabs will start round three of the Absa Off Road Car Championship in KwaZulu-Natal this weekend (May 18 and 19) as the favourites.
“We’re in it to win it,” admitted Castrol Toyota team principal Glyn Hall. “But we know we’re up against increasingly strong competition with a number of potential race winners, so we won’t be taking anything for granted.
• Jack Paulsen/Francois Crous (Hilux) win gymkhana
• Christo/Karien van Wyk (Land Cruiser) win mountain challenge
• Rudi/Yolaine van der Merwe (SVM) win overall
Hundreds of 4x4 enthusiasts and their families descended on the picturesque Rust de Winter campsite and picnic resort on the banks of the Elands River in Limpopo over the Freedom Day holiday long weekend to celebrate the 21st running of the 4x4 Jamboree under the Toyota banner.
4x4 enthusiasts to celebrate 21 years of Toyota support for the Rust de Winter jamboree this year
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-04-20 08:59
This year’s Toyota Rust de Winter jamboree, the 33nd consecutive year that this event will be held, is indeed special as this popular 4x4 gathering will be celebrating 21 years of on-going support by Toyota South Africa Motors.
To celebrate this milestone Toyota has invited all owners of Toyota 4x4’s which are 21 years or older to be part the celebrations on the weekend of 27 April to 30 April 2012 on the banks of the Elands River – and they will stand a chance to win some handsome prizes as well!
Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan – Total Rally in Kwazulu-Natal
Fresh from a fine showing in the season-opening Total Rally in KwaZulu-Natal four weeks ago, Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan (Toyota Auris) will head a strong Castrol Team Toyota challenge in the Sasol Rally in Mpumalanga on April 20 and 21.
Gemmell, who finished second behind the Ford Fiesta of Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in KZN in March, is a two-time former winner of the Sasol Rally (in 2007 and 2009 with Peter Marsh) and will be hoping that he and Swan can score Toyota’s 102nd national championship victory.
Duncan Vos and Rob Howie won the Production Vehicle category on the Toyota Dealer 400, round two of the Absa Off Road Championship.
• Toyota also 4th, 5th and 6th overall, first in classes SP, D and E and winner of manufacturers’ award
Seldom does a sponsor win its own event, but Toyota Motorsport broke a long-standing hoodoo dating back to the Toyota Desert Race in Botswana in 1999, when four-time national champion Duncan Vos and co-driver Rob Howie (Castrol Team Toyota Hilux) won the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga on Saturday. It was Vos’s 20th national championship off road victory.
The results are provisional as they are subject to an appeal to Motorsport South Africa.
Castrol Team Toyota Hilux
The Castrol Team Toyota Hilux bakkies of Anthony Taylor/Chris Birkin and Duncan Vos/Rob Howie are prepared and tested to fly the Toyota flag in the second round of the Absa Off Road Championship, the Toyota Dealer 400, in Mpumalanga this weekend (April 13 and 14).
After a relatively disappointing opening round, when the two Castrol Toyotas finished fifth and 10th in the RFS Magalies 400 in Gauteng, the Toyota Motorsport team has been hard at it over the past five weeks to ensure that the two Hilux crews have the best possible equipment to tackle what promises to be a challenging event.
Castrol Team Toyota's Gemmel and Coetzee finish a fighting second in Total Rally
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-03-26 09:28
A fighting second place in the season-opening Total Rally in KwaZulu-Natal by Toyota Motorsport’s Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan (Castrol Team Toyota Auris) on Saturday was some consolation for the disappointment of losing the sister Auris of Leeroy Poulter and Elvene in a fire just four kilometres into the event’s opening stage on Friday.
The Toyota Motorsport team of Johnny Gemmell/Carolyn Swan and Leeroy Poulter/Elvene Coetzee will make history when they line up in their Castrol-backed Toyota Auris rally cars to contest the opening round of the 2012 South African Rally Championship this weekend (March 23 and 24).
Motor sport is a great leveller and there are days when there is more rough to take than smooth. Saturday was one of those days for Toyota Motorsport, with the Castrol Team Toyota Hilux double cabs of Duncan Vos/Rob Howie and Anthony Taylor/Chris Birkin finishing fifth and 10th respectively in the production vehicle category of the RFS Magalies 400 at Tarlton near Krugersdorp.
Castrol Toyota driver Leeroy Poulter wins Bridgestone/Guild of Motoring Journalists Motor Sportsman of the Year award for 2011
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-03-02 10:39
Castrol Toyota rally driver Leeroy Poulter, who burst into the top echelon of national championship rallying last year and ended the season as the top-seeded driver, received the Bridgestone/Guild of Motoring Journalists Motor Sportsman of the Year award for 2011 at a function in Johannesburg last night.
The 30-year-old, driving a factory Castrol Toyota Auris, won two rounds of last year’s championship in his first season in the premier Super 2000 rally class and established himself as the consistently fastest special stage driver according to the driver seedings scoring system.
