George Chitepo wants more

Chitepo, one of the few blacks who are into motor rallying in Zimbabwe, raced with Pilusa for the first time in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in a Nissan 140GX.
And the duo held their own during the tough three-day motor racing event in which they managed to last the distance and finished seventh. In fact, Pilusa and Chitepo’s Nissan 140GX was the last car home on Sunday at Cresta Lodge but it was among the seven vehicles that survived the three days of racing in Harare and the surrounding areas of Ruwa and Norton. Fifteen local and foreign cars started the race at Cresta Lodge on Friday afternoon but eight of them fell by the wayside in the grueling event that was won by Zimbabwe’s Jess Watson who had his wife Sasha as his navigator.
Pilusa’s Nissan 140GX was also among the seven vehicles that survived in this race and his Zimbabwean navigator Chitepo could not hide his excitement after helping his newly found South African friend to finish the race.
Pilusa was making his debut appearance in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, which was the opening round of the eight-event 2012 FIA African Rally Championship series.
Chitepo said he was now looking at partnering Pilusa again in the second round of the 2012 ARC series — the Sasol Rally — which is set to run from April 19 to 21 in Nelspruit, South Africa. I really enjoyed navigating for Pieter Pilusa in this race and we’ve agreed to race together again in the Sasol Rally in South Africa next month. This is another big continental motor rallying event and we are going to go for it again. In fact, I think I’m going to navigate for Pilusa in a number of races in this year’s South Africa Rally Championship series,” Chitepo said after Sunday’s race at Cresta Lodge. Pilusa also said he “really enjoyed” his partnership with Chitepo during this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and he wouldn’t mind bringing him on board as his permanent co-pilot. “The Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally was tough but I really enjoyed my partnership with George. Had it not been for him, I couldn’t have finished this race. In fact, the shocks of my car were gone during the final stages of this race but he kept on urging me to push it and we finally got home which I think was a remarkable achievement for both of us,” Pilusa said.