Story: Evan Rothman
Forests and rallying go together like fish and chips. It is always better, one with the other, and this weekend rally crews contesting the fifth round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship will be in for a treat with the Volkswagen Rally.
One of the Championship’s highlights, this weekend’s event once again takes place in and around the city of Port Elizabeth. The 2010 edition takes the form of a compact route, with 163,72km of divided into 11 stages. In fact, the rally starts and finishes in a little over 24 hours…
Stating at the gates of the Volkswagen of South Africa factory in Uitenhage, not only will the two factory-backed Castrol Team Toyota Auris S2000s be looking to win this event but also the two privateer Ford Fiesta S2000 crews as they attempt to spoil Volkswagen’s aims of repeating their 2009 performance when they recorded an historic one-two-three result.
Day One, which kicks off on Friday 23 July at 12h30, takes in six stages. Competitors will immediately tackle three daunting stages in the Longmore Forest before making their way to the PE Oval track. Heading back to the town of Uitenhage, the surviving crews will thrash their rally machines on the spectator-friendly tar stage on the familiar highway interchange speed test. The day’s final stage will be a new tar stage under spotlight at Scribante Raceway, with the day’s action over at 19h09.
Day Two gets under way early in the morning with a repeat of Day one’s first four stages and then followed by the popular Kings Beach parking lot tar stage to finish off the event a little over 24 hours after it began.
The 2010 battle for the Drivers’ title has seen four different winners from the four previous events. Another fact coming into play now is that the top nine crews have DNF’d at least once thus far this season. It has been the BP-liveried Volkswagen Polo S2000 of Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson sits atop the points’ standings, while his team-mates and defending champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries lie in sixth place overall.
The Ford Fiesta S2000 will enjoy its debut in these forest roads here this weekend, and with its superior engine power output Conrad Rautenbach/Peter Marsh are seem a sure bet for a podium position. The highly talented Zimbabwean driver, a former Citroen Junior Team member in the World Rally Championship, has proven his speed in South African rally stages but has failed to convert his speed into points on the leader board. The Volkswagen Rally, which theoretically suits the Ford more than the Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Aurises, might see the youngster on the top step of the podium come Saturday afternoon.
In Class A7, the premier two-wheel drive Class, it is Gugu Zulu/Cindy Harding (BP Volkswagen Polo A7) that leads the pack. Behind him is a three-way tie for second place in the standings, but this will be resolved on the gravel roads this weekend.
It is, however, Leeroy Poulter/Henry Dearlove who have stolen the limelight in the two-wheel drive category, as they have regularly outpaced their rivals even though they are piloting a Toyota RunX A6. Needless to say, they will be the crew to watch this weekend once more.
Also a pleasure to watch are Ashley Haigh-Smith/Hilton Auffray in action in their Team React Toyota Yaris A5 as they battle the Volkswagen CitiGolfs for Class honours.
Class N4 has, over recent years, lost its lustre, to the point that there will be only one runner in this Class here and that will Joos and Danie Stassen (Subaru Impreza WRX STi).
Brother and sister crew of Megan and Oliver Verlaque (Toyota RunX N3) have brought the spark back to this Class, as they have outshone their more experienced and established rivals in Class N3. With the speed to win this Class here this weekend, the young Verlaque will be my sure bet for the winner’s trophy this weekend.
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