3
NEWS
Oz Safari entries roll in
Australia's version of the gruelling Dakar rally attracts higher numbers in the Auto category for 2012This year’s Australasian Safari, which will be held in Western Australia from September 21 to 29, has seen increased interest in the Auto category with 27 vehicles so far featuring in the provisional entry list.
The event, which is now in its 27th year and includes Auto, Moto (with the biggest number of entries) and Quad categories, has also seen this year the addition of a new SXS side-by-side category as well as a Dakar Challenge competition in which the winning Moto rider will score a free entry in Dakar 2013.
Among the Auto competitors to watch will be Australian rally champion Rob Herridge driving a Subaru Forester, multi Safari winner (in both Moto and Auto categories) John Hederics, who will be driving a Holden Colorado as he faces long-time rival Geoff Olholm in a Mitsubishi Pajero.
Then there is five-times Safari champion Bruce Garland, who missed last year due fracturing a vertebra during the 2011 Dakar Rally, and then having a heart attack and five bypass surgeries while on holiday two months later.
The Sydney-based off-road champion will make his 16th start at the Safari after an enforced lay-off of more than a year. He and long-term co-driver Harry Suzuki are tackling the 2012 Safari in preparation for the 2013 Dakar, which will run through Chile, Argentina and Peru next January.
The pair’s best result in the Safari of recent years was third outright in 2010 – and first diesel – in their 2011 Dakar-spec D-Max, but now the Isuzu Motorsports duo have a new ute – lighter, stronger, faster and better handling than its predecessor but still based around the D-Max’s steel cab, chassis frame and 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine.
"Each time we build a new D-MAX, they get better and better. This one is light years ahead of the one that finished 11th outright during the 2009 Dakar,” said Garland, who heads out of Sydney en route to WA today.
Second-place winner last year, John Purshouse, will be back with an even more competitive Mitsubishi Triton to have a crack at being fist across the line in 2012. Also aboard for the ride are Thai singer and TV star Kiatkamol Lata (AKA Tui AF3) driving an Isuzu D-Max, and teammate Rachan Trairat, also in a D-Max. Dakar competitor Nunzio Coffaro from Venezuela will also be competing in a prototype Toyota HiLux.
In the non-competitive Adventure Tour Division, which includes Moto vehicles and motorcycles, 20 contestants made up the draft entry list at the time of writing. Vehicles include a wide variety of bikes, and three Mitsubishi Outlander SUVs.
The Australasian Safari, which is described as Australia’s ‘ultimate’ off-road challenge, began as the Sydney-Darwin Wynns Safari in 1985, where more than 75 per cent of the field retired on the first competitive leg. The event, known by now as the Australasian Safari, moved to Western Australia in 2007, where it covered a distance of 7000km.
This year the Australasian Safari moves to new regions covering the mid west, Murchison and Gascoyne areas over a period of nine days and a total distance of approximately 3500km.
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Share this article
Written byCarsales Staff
See all articlesOur team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Subscribe todayDisclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.