Second overall after a stirring fight-back from 35th at the start in the 44-strong combined field of production and special vehicles were Nissan Motorsport team-mates and reigning champions Hannes Grobler and Francois Jordaan in the second Proudly South African Hardbody. They finished 38 minutes behind the winners and 57 minutes ahead of third-placed Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin in the class D-winning Castrol Toyota Hilux 2.7i. Second in class D and fourth overall were Manfred Schroder and Alec Harris in the Ford Racing Ranger. Henri Zermatten and Bodo Schwegler (Mastercraft/Ryobi Mitsubishi Pajero) achieved a notable 19th consecutive finish when they crossed the finish line seventh overall and third in class D. Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst (Tyco Trucks Toyota Hilux) were fifth overall and first in class E. Second were father and son Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn in the Castrol Toyota Hilux and third were Zane Pearce and Hennie Vosloo in their Castrol Toyota Hilux 2.7i. First among the special vehicles in the 432-km race in the Lowlands and the Maluti mountains of Lesotho was the BAT of father and son pairing of Nick and Ryan Harper. Second was the Motorite BAT of BAT creator Brandon Harcus and Alec Salley, with Shameer Variawa and VZ van Zyl third in the Total Porter. First in class B and fourth overall among the special vehicles was the Motorite Racing BAT-Nissan of Evan Hutchison and Trevor Ormerod. Second were brothers Rudi and Pierre van Graan in the Technochair Zarco Lite and third were brothers Hendrik and Louis Fourie in their Zarco Lite. Class S was won by former national off road champion Richard Schilling and Chris Davies in their Plastotech Aceco, who were 11th. Second and 13th overall were Nic Goslar and Jaco Robbertze in a Kopanong Hotel Superteam Raceco. The Nissan team of Cox/Pitchford, Grobler/Jordaan and Du Plessis/Du Plessis won the manufacturers’ prize for the day. Provisional results: Special vehicles 1 N and R Harper (BAT) 7h 40m 33,8s; 2 B Harcus/A Salley (BAT) 7h 45m 34,4s; 3 S Variawa/VZ van Zyl (Porter) 7h 58m 01,7s; 4 E Hutchison/T Ormerod (BAT) 8h 16m 21,9s; 5 W Battershill/R Sutton (Jimco) 8h 33m 41,0s; 6 Rudi and Pierre van Graan (Zarco Lite) 8h 59m 24,4s; 7 T Marsh/M Whitehouse (BAT) 9h 03m 15,8s; 8 H and L Fourie (Zarco Lite) 9h 33m 38,8s; 9 C Matthews/J Erasmus (WPP Footloose) 9h 35m 10,4s; 10 J Thomson/C MacNamara (Zarco Lite) 9h 44m 11,1s. Production vehicles: 1 A Cox/R Pitchford (Nissan) 7h 11m 06,3s; 2 H Grobler/F Jordaan (Nissan) 7h 49m 02,1s; 3 M Cronje/C Birkin (Toyota) 8h 46m 14,7s; 4 M Schroder/Alec Harris (Ford) 9h 7m 07,7s; 5 C Visser/J Badenhorst (Toyota) 9h 11m 35,9s; 6 H and J de Bruyn (Toyota) 9h 11m 47,9s; 7 H Zermatten/B Schwegler (Mitsubishi) 9h 22m 50,9s; 8 J and A du Plessis (Nissan) 9h 34m 34,0s; 9 Z Pearce/H Vosloo (Toyota) 9h 42m 00,0s.

Original article from Car