Sasol South African Rally Championship Battle Set to Continue
Ermelo, South Africa — The Sasol South African Rally Championship reaches the season mid-point on 29 May with the running of round 4, the Ermelo-based Rally of South Africa.
The first three rounds have produced three different winners and have been characterised by immensely spectacular and ultra-close gravel racing, headlined by no less than 17 class S2000 cars fighting for victory.
Heading the title chase with two second-place finishes and a win on the recent Sasol Rally, the 2006 champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson have powered their BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo to the top of the title leader board with 67 points, a fairly healthy 16-point lead over the Castrol Toyota Auris of Mark Cronjé/Robert Paisley. The leading Toyota entry has been consistent and a little unfortunate, with various mechanical niggles keeping them off the boil and they will be hoping to challenge for wins from here on in.
The two biggest losers on the Sasol Rally last month were the defending Sasol SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Conrad Rautenbach/Peter Marsh, who both broke their cars in the same stage while swapping the lead stage by stage. Fekken dropped to third in the title race after leading, 23 in arrears, while Rautenbach finds himself fourth, another two points further back and a big 25 off the top of the heap.
Fekken and Arries stormed to victory in KwaZulu-Natal, while Rautenbach stunned with a surprise win in his S2000 Ford Fiesta in the second round in Caledon. These two were fully half-a-minute ahead of the pack on the Sasol Rally before disaster struck. Such is the intensity of battle that the lead gap between the pair was as little as a tenth of a second.
More of the same can be expected on the SCC Pretoria-organised Rally of South Africa: Fekken and Rautenbach fighting for the lead, with Kuun, Cronjé and the second Castrol Toyota Auris of Johnny Gemmell/Drew Sturrock pushing hard to spoil their party.
Jan Habig/Ralph Pitchford, running a third BP VW Polo, led in the Cape before retiring, so they too can be expected to be in the mix. Gemmell also had a turn at the front of the Cape round and just needs a little luck to convert his pace into a win.
With such a quality field, victory is hard won and Lady Luck needs to be a passenger. The racing is so close in Class S2000 that a puncture will drop a crew eight positions with no chance of making it back to the top of the timesheets.
Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich, double production car champions, have their new Basil Read/Bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000 at last and after a number of successful test sessions, will be looking to make up lost ground and to mix it with the leaders after missing the Sasol Rally, with their M-Sport-built car stranded in the UK, a victim of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud.
Behind the factory Volkswagens, Toyotas and privateer Ford Fiestas, another major war is simmering for top honours in the Privateers' Rally Championship, currently headed by Rautenbach and Marsh.
Lurking just 4 points back is the Pirtek Toyota Auris of Hein Lategan/Johan vd Merwe after two fifth place overall finishes. Lategan is a very quick driver and in his first year in the top S2000 class, is a slender 1 point ahead of the more experienced Team Total-backed Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Carolyn Swan Toyota RunX combination. The Sasol Rally was marked by a fantastic duel between these two teams and they should lock horns once more next time out.
The second Team Total Toyota RunX of the Cape Town-based Spaniard Fernando Rueda and co-driver Dave Lewkowicz should be well inside the top 10 as well. Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin, running a third Team Total Toyota RunX S2000, have the unenviable record this season of rolling twice in two events, the first putting Moosa in hospital and out of round two.
Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton (New Africa Developments Toyota Auris S2000) have arguably the best machinery at their disposal and are quick enough to mix it with the factory teams but have been out of luck, rolling out of the last rally. They should be a factor on the Rally SA leader board.
Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman's season has seen the Pretoria businessman bedeviled by mechanical problems in his Pirtek Toyota Auris and he has been hard pressed to hang on to the tails of the top runners, although they have increased their pace on each outing.
Volkswagen is also well represented in the Privateers' Championship, headed by Evan Hutchison/Elvéne Coetzee in their Motorite Volkswagen Polo. The multiple off-road and rally class champion has settled well into the top class and should factor in the rather crowded fight for the bottom half of the top 10.
Theuns Joubert/Carl Peskin (Salom Group VW Polo) have been very consistent over the last season and a half, but rolled out of the Sasol and need to make up lost ground. Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer (Avis/Gabriel Volkswagen Polo) have had one great rally and two blighted by mechanical problems, but could be in the hunt in the forests around Warburton and Panbult, where the bulk of the stages are run.
Namibian driver Jaco van Dyk and co-driver Des de Fortier (S2000 VW Polo) are getting quicker on every outing and popping into the top 10, so another good run will cement the youngster's reputation in the SA series.
Class A7 for the fastest and most powerful two-wheel-drive cars has also produced three different winners from the first three rounds, so a three-way tie at the top of the points log needs to be unjammed in Ermelo.
Gugu Zulu and Shaun Visser are the quickest class A7 combination, the BP Volkswagen Polo leading the rest by minutes, yet Zulu is lagging in the class title chase because of unreliability and will be hoping for a decent run. Round two winners Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak (A&E Motorsport Toyota RunX) and round 3 winners Michael Otto/Tommy Du Toit (Auto Doctor Toyota Corolla) should go at it hammer and tongs to better one another but lurking in the dust will be Gavin Cronjé/Van Aardt Schoeman in their Seasons in Africa Volkswagen Polo.
Cronjé, the younger brother of Toyota works driver Mark, and the reigning Le Mans Cup Champion, will be in his fourth ever rally, yet has shown an indecent turn of speed - and found some of the car's limits by going over them with expensive consequences, a panel crunching roll on the Sasol Rally cutting short much-needed seat time.
Leeroy Poulter, the rally find of the year and co-driver Henry Dearlove have shaken up the order in class A6 for 1600cc cars. The Randburg Raceway/Ferodo Toyota RunX pair stormed to a remarkable eighth overall and first front-wheel-drive car home on the Sasol Rally and another top drawer performance can be expected from the talented production car circuit racer and former kart champion.
Chasing hard is the Silverton Engineering/Hencom Autobody Toyota Auris of Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe, who won the class on the Tour Natal, retired in the Cape and came home a fighting second to Poulter in Mpumalanga. This war-within-a-war is far from over and is set to entertain as much as the bigger-engined cars.
Reliability and consistency is the key to Team Total's Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee's campaign, and the slowly-slowly approach has paid dividends, for Trott is fourth in the Privateers' Championship and second in the 1600cc Championship, just 1.4 points off the lead.
Teenager Ashley Haigh Smith and co-driver Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris) have a decent 18 point class A5 lead after claiming their first-ever class win in the Cape as well as two second-place finishes. This has been enough to see off the BP Volkswagen challenge of former class A5 champions Andre Cleenwerck/Kes Naidoo so far. The factory VW team is scheduled to debut the new VW Polo Vivo on the Rally of South Africa which may play into Haigh Smith's hands as a new car usually spells teething troubles.
Chad Lambert/Nic Prinsloo (Lambert Steel Toyota Yaris) took the class A5 win last time out and are tied with Cleenwerck on points, so another interesting battle should be resolved ahead of the six week Soccer World Cup break.
Morné Janse van Rensburg/Derek Jacobs (GC Diesel/BP Volkswagen Citi Golf) is another pair looking for a good result after rolling on the Sasol Rally, while the similar Sasol Komatipoort Citi Golf of Piet Bakkes/Paul van Wyk shone on this event last year, making a surprise result a strong possibility.
Benjamin Pinho/Marco Ferreira (ProBeat Ford Ka) are a single point off the Cleenwerck/Lambert battle and could sneak ahead if the two quicker teams hit trouble.
Just one N4 car is expected in the entry; the Midas Subaru Impreza STi of Tjaart Coetzee/Pierre Jordaan, while class N3 sees the resumption of the Megan/Oliver Verlaque vs. Abduraghman Amlay/Yusuf Ganief battle in identical Toyota RunXes. Verlaque gave the Cape men a driving lesson in wet conditions on the Sasol Rally until sidelined by mechanical problems, allowing the former Western Cape Regional champions to sneak through to their second win of the year.
Zimbabwean Robson Maganezi/AN Other (Link Africa Ford Fiesta ST) are second in the standings following a rather lucky but invaluable class win on his debut in Natal and a second on the Sasol. As the genial Kempton Park businessman finds his feet in the sport, he may yet walk off with the laurels.
The Rally of South Africa starts from Ermelo Toyota at noon on Friday and takes in three stages in the Warburton area, including the monster 58km infamous Jessievale stage, the longest stage in SA rallying.
Saturday's action gets under way at 7am, taking teams to Panbult for eight stages before returning to Ermelo for two runs over the gravel Super Special stage. The finish and podium ceremony will take place at Ermelo Toyota.
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