It was a tough weekend for the Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Rally-Raid team at the back-to-back rounds four and five of the South African Rally-Raid Championship held in Parys, Free State.
The reigning Overall Production Vehicle champions Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer started in second place following the Top 10 draw and a short 1.5km qualifying loop for the first race on Friday. They started quickly but their progress was slowed down when they caught and were stuck behind the dust of a slower competitor.
Having eventually passed, a puncture slowed their progress and they were again relegated to driving behind the same car and ended the race in sixth place.
Team-mates Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert didn’t have much luck on Friday either.
A suspension joint failure early during the first loop caused the car to roll, fortunately without too much damage to it and the occupants. They decided to call it a day so that the NWM team could do running repairs to the car that would enable them to race on Saturday.
Driving a completely different 193km race loop, the V6-twin turbo powered Ford Rangers were right on the pace, with (Gareth) Woolridge and Dreyer steadily building up a 50-second lead over Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings in their Toyota Hilux when they stopped for the mandatory 30-minute service stop.
But motorsport can be a cruel mistress with a puncture after hitting a rock after a full-speed crest forcing them to replace the tyre.
Even with a record time replacement, the incident cost them dearly and they had to settle for fourth place, 01:33 behind race winners Lategan and Cummings.
Having worked late into Friday night to repair the second NWM Ranger Ultimate, (Lance) Woolridge and Gilbert kept chasing for a podium spot on Saturday and after the first loop they were 22-seconds behind Letegan and Cummings and 01:12 adrift of leaders Gareth and Dreyer.
Lance and Gilbert kept up the pressure and were set to finish second after their team-mates’ puncture and when the checkered flag dropped they had to settle for third only one second behind Toyota’s Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy.
“This has been the name of the game for our championship this year,” Gareth said. “We went from the top as champions in 2023 to good pace this year but small things have let us down. The car was brilliant today, and it felt like we found a new window with our suspension. I was really pushing hard and our Ranger took everything in its stride, from the tight switchbacks to the rough conditions and the more open terrain.
“After the puncture I drove like a man possessed, but there’s so little in it with a fast race like this, and with just 60km to go there just wasn’t enough time to claw the time back,” he said.
According to Lance it was a really challenging weekend.
“The roll on Friday unfortunately gave our team a lot of extra work, but to see the pace and competitiveness of our cars today was really rewarding, and any one of at least seven top cars could have won. So to get a podium was a great way to end a tough weekend with the double-header.”
Said team principal Neil Woolridge: “Things didn’t go our way on Friday even though we had really good pace, and we were so very close to getting the win and having both cars on the podium on Saturday. It’s disappointing for Gareth’s victory to slip away right at the end, and Lance missing second place by one second is a bitter pill to swallow. However, it was a great performance from both cars, and very satisfying to see how competitive we are now.”
The next race takes place in Welkom in the Free State on 13 and 14 September.