Story by Evan Rothman
Pictures by Motorpics
Rallying in South Africa this past weekend proved to be as exciting and dramatic as any other international championship. The fearsome and daunting forest roads of Mpumalanga’s Lowveld provided the ideal scene for this the third round of the South African Rally Championship.
The BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 of Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson walked away with the winners’ champagne after the Sasol Rally’s trying 16 stages. Kuun was chased to the finish by Johnny Gemmell and stand-in co-drover Phil Archenoul (Castrol Toyota Auris S2000), with Jan Habig finishing on the final step of the podium with co-driver Ralph Pitchford in their BP Volkswagen Polo S2000.
A bitter sting in the tail this weekend came when rally leaders Conrad Rautenbach/Peter Marsh (Ford Fiesta S2000) and the reigning South African Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries (BP Volkswagen Polo S2000) were forced to retire from the punishing event. Rautenbach/Marsh were undoubtedly bravest pairing this weekend, pushing the factory crews of Fekken/Arries and Johnny Gemmell/Phil Archenoul (Castrol Toyota Auris S2000) to their limits in a straight fight for the top slot on the leaderboard.
After attacking on Day Two’s morning stages, Rautenbach and Fekken were locked in a head-to-head battle for the lead only to see both crews’ rally come to an abrupt end in SS11. Rautenbach, running first on the road, hit a dip and jump too quickly, landing his Fiesta on its nose. This immediately ended Rautenbach’s Sasol Rally weekend.
Hot on his heels was Fekken: he hit a rock on the apex of a corner, and the impact pushed his Volkswagen Polo S2000s engine up and caused severe damage to the engine.
Day One: What happened
In what was supposed to be a massive Toyota versus Volkswagen battle on the Sasol Rally 2010, Rautenbach’s Ford Fiesta added an extra dimension to this intriguing struggle for supremacy.
At the end of Day One, 11 of the 41 crews who took to SS1 in the morning reached the overnight stop after SS7. The day’s gravel road action took place in and around the towns of Sabie and White River, which was followed by two spectacular nighttime Spectator SuperSpecial Stages in the heart of Sabie and then White River. All the while, heavy mist and rain made for a tough day in the office for all crews.
Rautenbach, the 2007 African Rally Champion and former Citroen Junior Team driver in the World Rally Championship, and Fekken traded fastest stage times and juggled the rally lead throughout the seven stages. It was Rautenbach who ended Day One with a slender 2,4sec advantage over his rival in the final stage of the day, as the 25-year-old showed the thousands of rally supporters who lined the stage just why he was a regular top ten finisher in the World Rally Championship. He floated his Ford Fiesta S2000 into the hairpins, and the car seemed to dance around the corners with poise and precision. Even though Fekken managed to close the gap to Rautenbach, one is left wondering the full potential of the Rautenbach/Ford combination… In one stage, SS5, Rautenbach was able to pull out a stage time a whopping 15sec faster than anyone else.
This, however, in no way detracted from the pace and skill showcased by the likes of Fekken, his BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 team-mates Enzo Kuun and Jan Habig and the Castrol Team Toyota drivers Gemmell and Mark Cronje. In a fight for the rally victory, the Castrol Team Toyota squad suffered a major setback when Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley broke their Toyota Auris’ power steering pump early on Day One. Once the problem was rectified, severe damage to his rally position had unfortunately been exacted: they ended Day One in sixth place overall, over two minutes adrift of the rally leaders. Gemmell ended the day in fifth place, but within striking range of the leaders.
Behind the enthralling battle for the lead on Day One, Leeroy Poulter/Henry Dearlove (Toyota RunX A6) set the cat among the S2000 and Class A7 pigeons when they ended Day One as the fastest two-wheel drive team in tenth overall. Gugu Zulu/Shaun Visser (BP Volkswagen Polo A7) convincingly lead their Class A7. Local pairing Danie and Joos Stassen (Class N4 Subaru Impreza) placed 14th overall (the fastest Group N entry) at the overnight halt, while Class A5 was an intense three-way mêlée for Class honours between Andre Cleenwerck (BP Volkswagen CitiGolf A5), Chad Lambert (Toyota Yaris A5) and Ashley Haigh-Smith (Toyota Yaris A5). Class N3 was dominated by a strong performance from sister-and-brother pairing Megan and Oliver Verlaque (Toyota RunX N3; they lead rivals Abduraghman Amlay/Garth Ritsch (Toyota RunX N3) by nearly 01min 30s.
A number of S2000 crews did not reach the Day One overnight halt, and these included: Jaco van Dyk, Theuns Joubert, Visser du Plessis, Japie van Niekerk and Evan Hutchison.
Day Two: What happened
With the two leading cars parked after the third stage of nine on Day Two, the hunt for the Sasol Rally 2010’s top honours was re-ignited by Enzo Kuun, Jan Habig and Johnny Gemmell.
Kuun inherited the rally lead from Fekken and Rautenbach, and also moved into the lead with a 30sec cushion over team-mate Habig. In third and fourth places were the Castrol Toyota Auris S2000 crews of Gemmell and Cronje respectively. A determined drive saw Gemmell leapfrog Habig to take second position in the afternoon’s stages, and Habig was unable to re-challenge the Toyota driver for the second place on the podium. Gemmell’s talented team-mate Cronje also put the hammer down on Day Two to set a fastest stage time to demonstrate to his rivals his quick pace when Lady Luck is in his corner and finished in fourth place overall.
As the rally’s final stages came to a close, Kuun put on a spectacular display of driving skill for the many thousands of Mpumalanga rally fans. His lead remained comfortable to enable him to bring his Volkswagen Polo to the finish undeterred. Kuun and Hodgson claimed their sixth Sasol Rally win in 19 years! This victory in Nelspruit also gives Volkswagen the edge in the ‘King of Sasol Rally’ fight, winning three of the last five editions of this grueling event.
In fifth position overall was the privateer Pirtek Toyota Auris S2000 of Hein Lategan/Johan van der Merwe. Lategan fought off the challenges of J-P. Damseaux/Carolyn Swan (Team Total Evolution Toyota RunX S2000) in the final stages of the rally to safeguard their impressive finish. Pirtek Toyota Auris S2000 team-mates Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman unfortunately were spectators on Day Two as they retired their car on Day One with a broken gearbox input shaft.
A soft-roll early on Day Two saw Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Team Total Evolution Toyota RunX S2000) lose over 14min in SS10, and dropped from eighth position overall to 14th, which they held onto until the finish.
A number of crews were dealt a cruel hand by fate when they retired from the rally in the final stages, most notably Jaco van Dyk (Volkswagen Polo S2000), Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer (Volkswagen Polo S2000), Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (New Africa Developments Toyota Auris S2000) and Megan Verlaque (Toyota RunX N3) in SS14.
Joos and Danie Stassen finished the event in an impressive tenth place overall in their Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4), and were the only Group N4 car to finish after the similar Subura Impreza of Tjaart Coetzee/Johan Aucamp retired in SS13.
Class A6 was dominated by the hard-charging Leeroy Poulter/Henry Dearlove (Toyota RunX A6, who crossed the finish line as the fastest of the two-wheel drive cars, beating the quicker and more powerful Class A7 crews. A star of the future! Behind them was the Team Total Evolution Toyota RunX A6 of Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee and Michael Otto/Tommy du Toit (Toyota Corolla A7) finished behind them but won Class A7 honours. Sadly, Gugu Zulu/Shaun Visser (BP Volkswagen Polo A7) lost their lead on SS14 due to their windscreen misting up, dropping more than two minutes to gift the Class win to Otto/Du Toit.
Chad Lambert/Nic Prinsloo (Toyota Yaris A5) won Class A5, after a closely fought battle with Ashley Haigh-Smith (Toyota Yaris A5). Haigh-Smith finished 50sec adrift of Lambert.
Amlay/Ritsch won Class N3 after the Verlaques’ Toyota RunX quit on SS14. Robson Maganezi/Pierre Jordaan brought their Link Africa Ford Fiesta ST home in second place in Class N3.
22 of the 41 starters made it to the finish at the end of the tough 16 stage-event. Crews will now ready themselves and their machinery for Round Four of the Championship, the Rally of South Africa in Ermelo from 28 – 29 May.