Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford got their season off to a perfect start when they won the Adenco 400, opening round of the Absa Off Road Championship, which ended in Darling on Saturday.

Vos, the reigning South African driver's champion, and Pitchford brought their Donaldson Nissan Navara home 41 seconds ahead of team-mates Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr. It was Nissan's seventh straight win on the Western Cape event which this year produced one of the toughest routes for an Absa event in recent memory.

Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the RFS Toyota Hilux, came in third to spoil what earlier in the day looked like developing into a Nissan clean sweep of the first three places. Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and his British co-driver, Quin Evans were third until a puncture 30 kilometres from the finish dropped them down to fourth.

The top five were rounded out by Castrol Toyota Hilux stalwarts Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton. The pair were always intent on a top five result and did just that.

"It was a great way to start the season, but it was more than hard work," said Vos. "It was a really tough route, and with Hannes and Juan pushing us all the way there was absolutely no chance to relax. It was a tough event for the co-drivers and Ralph did a brilliant job."

Grobler and Mohr were always in with a sniff but Vos and Pitchford never put a foot wrong. The Tollefsen/Evans and Visser/Badenhorst battle was always close but it was cruel luck on the overseas pair.

"Before the puncture we took a wrong turn and had to back track," said Tollefsen. "That cost us time and when we had the puncture it allowed the Toyota to get ahead of us.

"It was a pity but we are happy with fourth on what was a hard event."

Visser/Badenhorst had a clean run to upstage the factory squad. A puncture on the second of the two 160 kilometre loops that made up the event cost Taylor and Houghton time, but they had around four minutes in hand over Terence Marsh and Pieter Groenewald who were making their debut in the Regent Racing Ford Ranger.

There was also a great result for Christiaan du Plooy and Henk Jansen van Vuuren in their first time out in the premier SP Class in a new RFS Toyota Hilux. Du Plooy's father, Chris, and Ewald van Rensburg were not so lucky and were taken to hospital for observation after suffering back injuries in an off road excursion in another RFS Toyota Hilux.

The tough route took a heavy toll on vehicles and crews in Class D and Class E. Eighth overall and first in Class D went to former Class D drivers champion Cliff Weichelt and son Louis.

The pair reveled in the tough conditions and came home around 20 minutes ahead of Dewald van Breda and Johan du Toit (Northam Toyota Hilux). Van Breda and du Toit were Rookies of the Year last season and moved into Class D after a debut season in Class E.

A brave effort saw Johan Fouche and Wentzel Pretorius finish third in Class D in a Mitsubishi. The Weichelt's, van Breda/du Toit and the Mitsubishi were the only classified finishers in Class D.

Class E winners Deon Venter and Ian Palmer, in the 4X4 Megaworld Toyota Hilux, overcame a myriad of suspension problems to win Class E. They came in ahead of Louw de Bruin and Riaan Greyling in the Ruwacon Ford Ranger with a 14 minute gap between the two cars.

Another brave effort saw reigning champions Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux, in the RFS Toyota Hilux, salvage third place. A broken radiator on the Friday prologue saw them playing catch up over the rest of the race.