The ultra-fast Osram Rally, staged in Barkly East over the weekend, saw Toyota secure its first championship in the 2010 season. This honour goes to Leeroy Poulter and Henry Dearlove in their Imperial Group backed Class A6 Auris.
Poulter and Dearlove finished the Osram Rally in 13th place as class winners and the first non-S2000 finisher and ahead of the quicker Class A7 cars. This places the pair in a position where their class points total can at best be equalled with a tie break decided in their favour as a result of the most wins scored in the class with two events still to run.
At the front of the field Johhny Gemmell remains locked in a challenge for the overall South African Championship in his Castrol Team Toyota Auris S2000 with Enzo Kuun. Gemmell finished the Osram Rally in fifth position after losing time in the first stage of the event with a puncture and then being slowed by a misfire in the critical back-to-back stages three and four.
The total time lost by Gemmell was 1 minute and 42 seconds, a fraction more than the margin of 1 minute 41,7 seconds held by rally winner Kuun at the end of the event. Some consolation for Gemmell was the fact that once the misfire was rectified he went on to post the fastest time in the longest stage of the event a full 11 seconds quicker than Kuun. His average speed over this 43,5 kilometre marathon stage was 120 km/h.
Mark Cronje, in the second of the Castrol Team Toyota Auris S2000s, also had a frustrating event. He had a wheel rim shatter on contact with a rock in the first stage and lost several minutes changing the damaged rim. He did however have the distinction of recording the fastest time in the second longest stage of the event with an average speed of 120 km/h over the 31,4 kilometres of special stage three.
“The Osram Rally is a unique event in the Sasol South African Rally Championship,” says Castrol Team Toyota team principal Glyn Hall. “It is run over a very limited number of ultra-fast long stages and you simply have to have a clean run if you are to be at the front of the field at the end.
“We had a couple of problems that on any other event could have left us in with a chance of a win. The winning average speed for the 163,4 km stage distance was a staggering 115,3 km/h. At this speed there was just no margin to make up time despite the fact that the Auris showed its form as the quickest car on the two longest stages of the event.”
With just two rounds of the championship still to run and 50 points up for grabs just 10 points separate Gemmell from Enzo Kuun and the lead in the championship.
– Credit: Toyota of South Africa.