Summarize

It means ‘Freedom’ in Afrikaans, but the KwaZulu-Natal town of Vryheid has a history of battle and this weekend’s National Rally-Raid VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 will be no exception for Red-Lined Motorsport. A lot of effort and testing has gone into preparing for this event and the team is ready to do battle across the classes.

“The VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 is a big race for Red-Lined Motorsport,” team boss Terence Marsh explains. “We’re extremely proud that our Red-Lined built cars make up the bulk of the entries for the weekend’s Rally-Raid national. It’s a tribute to our entire team for their continued dedication and hard work as well as our customer centric approach to this form of South African motorsport. And then of course to the continued and loyal support of our customer base!”

Star Red-Lined duo, Jayden Els and Johan Swemmer cannot wait to take the fight to the best following their baptism of fire at their W2RC World Championship outing in Morocco last week. They have continued to light up the timing screens of late but have been out of luck in converting that pace into overall results aboard their FIA Ultimate T1+ class REVO GT-R. There will only be one top Class REVO GT-R out this weekend with the other regular Red-Lined internationals busy with international programs.

Red-Lined has three race cars competing in the SA Ultimate T1+ class with the Penta Motor Group powered REVO T1+ V8 crew of Philip Botha and Stompie Mynhardt coming off a popular maiden win last time out.  Knocking on the door of a maiden class win, ever-improving chargers, Danie Ludick and Denzil Williamson are another pair to watch in their similar Elegant Fuels powered REVO T1+ V8. Both crews however have SA T1+ championship log leaders, Namibians Marko Himmel and Francois Schoonbee to deal with in their Red-Lined Navara Evo as they work on closing out the championship.

No less than seven Red-Lined built race cars will fight it out in both the T1 Adventurer class and the VAPS HCV Red-Lined T1 Cup. Overall favourites for the T1 Cup, Johan de Bruyn and Adriaan Roets have taken four VAPS HCV T1 Cup wins on the trot but are still chasing their first 2025 Adventurer class win in their Falken Tyres powered REVO T1 in Vryheid. They will have their work cut out by a strong and competitive field. 

The competitive Sirkel N VK56 T1 crews of Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein as well as Nickus Heinlein and Jaco Kriel return to action after missing a couple of races due to business commitments. Also back in action for just their second national outing, VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Team crews of Peet Victor and Van Zyl Jonck and Abri Olivier and Iaan Olivier will be out in their identical Red-Lined VK50s. And then to wrap up the Red-Lined entries are newcomers Martin van der Vyver and Rikus Hattingh make their debut aboard a Red-Lined REVO T1.

“Our factory team together with our army of Red-Lined privateers are ready for action,” Marsh concludes. “Vryheid is well known as a tough and technical event so everyone will have their work cut out for them over the weekend but we look forward to the challenge!”