Lichtenburg 400 Cross Country Report – Scorpion Rally Cross Country whitewash

Pirelli tyres enjoyed an incredible official South African Cross Country Auto Series debut, when Pirelli Scorpion Rally-shod bakkies filled the top seven positions in the Production Class T on as dusty, tough and demanding season opening Lichtenburg 400 in the North West Province over the weekend.

Johan and Werner Horn drove their Malalane Toyota Hilux to a popular Class T victory over a pair of Ford Performance Puma Lubricants Rangers in the hands of Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer and impressive SACC debutants, former SA rally star Henk Lategan and his faithful notes man Barry White.

The Horns were delighted with their win and thrilled by the performance advantages their new Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres brought. “These Pirellis are tough tyres,” Johan Horn explained. “We had a poor qualifying and had to fight back hard through the field, but we could push hard and rely on the tyres and also get away with a lot more than we are used to without the worry of puncturing.

“I don’t think the tyres were that much of an advantage this weekend however – we are not the only ones to have found out how good these Scorpion Rally tyres are and all of our rivals are also running them too, but I’d say the tyres have made the racing better – that was one hell of a dice because we can all push that much harder now.”

In fact the entire Lichtenburg 400 top eight in Class T was running Pirelli’s new to SA Scorpion Rally cross country tyre, with Chris Visser Japie Badenhorst’s Pirelli-tyred Atlas Copco SA Toyota Hilux coming home fourth followed by Hennie de Klerk Rodney Burke in a Volkswagen Amarok. But that’s not all – Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable next up in the third factory Ford Ranger, while Gary Bertholdt and Phillip Herselman brought their Pirelli-shod Atlas Copco Volkswagen Amarok home seventh – both of them on Pirellis too.

“We are absolutely delighted with the Scorpion Rally’s official South African Cross Country Series debut,” Pirelli SA motorsport manager Mark Eatwell admitted. “In fact it was beyond our wildest dreams that Pirelli would come, see and conquer as it did, so we see this as a feather in our cap and a very good omen for the future.”

Pirelli sells a broad range of racing rubber in South Africa, which is available through Stradale Motorsport. Contact Charl Aranges at charl@vaalfluidsa.com to find out more about how Pirelli can benefit your race tyre needs.