A thorn in the side no more for Giniel De Villiers

December 31 ^st 2022 - 16:03 [GMT + 3]

Since his debut in 2003, Giniel de Villiers has been on the podium eight times, has achieved thirteen top 5 finishes and has only dropped out of the top 10 once (with 11th place in 2007). For the eleventh year, the South African will take starter’s orders behind the wheel of a Hilux, but he will finally be rid of a thorn in his side, namely the twenty punctures that spoiled his previous participation, which are likely to be old news thanks to the new size of tyres authorised for T1+ vehicles: “We did a lot of testing this year with the new car, really a lot of testing to get it to where it is now. It’s a big difference with the bigger wheels and more suspension. It is easier to drive in the sand. The car is heavier, which you do feel. But also, with the suspension, it’s just a lot safer, better for your body and for people’s backs – it’s just really nice to drive. I’ve done three races. Nasser came and did one of the races. I did a lot of the testing, for sure. Let’s hope it goes better this time. The last two years were really difficult with the tyre situation. I had twenty-four punctures last year and the year before it was almost twenty, so if you have that many it’s just impossible to fight. Let’s hope our fortunes change and we can get a good result this year”.