The Osram Rally in the mountainous reaches of the Eastern Cape bordering on Lesotho and the Free State is one of the great challenges of the Sasol South African Rally Championship. Better known as the Mountain Trial and featuring high-altitude passes, slippery gravel roads and dizzying drops, it is a super-fast event – the average speed of the winner over the full 163 kilometres of gravel special stages was over 115 km/h and on the 43-km longest stage was 120 km/h. It demands total commitment from the driver and complete faith in the car.
For multi-talented racing driver Gavin Cronje, competing in his first season of rallying in a class A7 Easylife Kitchens Volkswagen Polo with experienced co-driver Van Aardt Schoeman after winning championships on the track in world karting, international sports car racing and national Formula Volkswagen, it was a new challenge he was relishing.
“Unfortunately, we suffered from a mysterious lack of pace and traction,” said the 31-year-old businessman from Fourways near Johannesburg. “As hard as we tried, we just couldn’t make competitive stage times. For some reason the car was very skittish. Even in a straight line I battled to keep it under control and after trying really hard to make some headway in the early stages, when we frightened ourselves a bit, we decided to just keep it on the road and aim for a finish and some championship points.
“It was massively frustrating. This was my first experience of the much-talked about Mountain Trial and the roads were perfect for high-speed rallying. Driving at the limit is what racing cars is all about and it just didn’t happen today,” said the only South African racing driver in the modern era who has won an international sports car race at the long circuit at Le Mans.
For the record, Cronje and Schoeman were among the 25 survivors of the six-stage one-day event, finishing second in class and 15th overall.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Cronje will be back. He’s overcome bigger obstacles before and has achieved all his successes in motor sport despite being a Type 1 diabetic and having to continually monitor his diet and blood sugar levels.
“We have just two events remaining this season and I don’t want to end my first year in rallying with too many regrets.
The penultimate event in the championship is the Swartland Rally in the Western Cape on September 17 and 18.
Gavin Cronje acknowledges and thanks his sponsors, Easy Life Kitchens (www.easylifekitchens.co.za), and also Volkswagen Motorsport and Pepper Racing for their support.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.