The Toyota team experienced quite a bit of drama at this past weekend's Limpopo 400, the 6th round in the Absa Off Road Championship.

Mark Cronje/Chris Birkin and Anthony Taylor/Robin Houghton, both factory Castrol Toyota Hilux entries, had numerous mechanical problems during the race. Cronje/Birkin ultimately took fourth place after their shock absorber broke 30 km from the finish line.

“We debated whether or not to call it a day, and then decided to see if we could make it to the finish. It was very disappointing but we salvaged championship points.” - Chris Birkin

For Taylor/Houghton, however, it meant an early retirement after an initial great run. Their vehicle's engine started to overheat 10 km from the end of the first loop and again later.

“There was no point in cooking the engine so we decided to call it a day. We were going really well and it was frustrating to have to retire, but we did the right thing.” - Anthony Taylor

After a disappointing prologue, Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn (Micaren Exel Toyota Hilux) had a clean run and finished second overall, two minutes and 15 seconds behind ultimate winners, Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr (Sasol Nissan Navara).

Toyota drove away with the manufacturers award and dominated Class E by taking the first three places. 1) Deon Venter/Ian Palmer (4x4 Megaworld Toyota Hilux), 2) Dewald van Breda/Johan du Toit (Potch Plastics Toyota Hilux, and 3) Jannie Visser/Joks le Roux (Team Barberspan Toyota Hilux).

Toyota Motorsport manager William Haddad had this to say of the Limpopo 400:

“It was a weekend that once again was a little disappointing from an SP Class point of view,” said . “But it is over and now we need to concentrate our efforts on top results on the Toyota Dealer 400. It would be nice if we could pick up our second win of the season on our own event.”

Get more detailed information on the Limpopo 400 at Motorsport.com.

The Toyota Dealer 400 in Lydenburg on October 11 and 12 is the penultimate event of the season. If you attend any of these events, please feel free to blog about it here on MoA and we'd love to see the pics you've taken while you're there.

Limpopo 400 highlights on TV:

• 21 September (this Sunday) on SS2 at 20h00 - 21h00
• 22 September on CSN/SS2 at 01h00 - 02h00
• 23 September on CSN/SS2 at 22h00 - 23h00
• 24 September on SS2 at 12h00 - 13h00
• 25 September on SS5 at 20h00 - 21h00