After a lay-off of nearly five months, rally crews took to the first round of the South African Rally Championship this past weekend to tackle the 14 testing stages of the Total Tour Natal Rally. This year’s edition saw a healthy entry list of 39 cars take to the start ramp, but the trying speed tests of Scottburgh, Pennington and Amanzimtoti on the South Coast saw the number of finishers total only 23.
With sweaty palms and big grins the Total Tour Natal Rally started on Friday afternoon, taking in five stages (four gravel and one tarmac) to then continue on Saturday with a further eight gravel tests and a final tarmac Super Special Stage to conclude the event. The usual teething issues for the new cars and teams saw frantic action ahead of the event, but once the balaclava, helmets and gloves were donned, the crews doggedly chased after the final finish time control on Saturday evening. With the route providing its share of upsets on the leader board, mechanical problems slowing cars and driver errors costing valuable stage time, each new stage was, however, met with the same determination and commitment.
Day One saw Mark Cronje/Robin Houghton (Sasol Rally Team Ford Fiesta S2000) claim five stage wins from five, to end the day with 12,8 sec lead over the rest of the 17-strong Class S2000 field. In fact, the top eight were separated by only 47,6 sec after 36,72 demanding competitive kilometers. Funnily enough, the winning margin eventual winners Conrad Rauntenbach and Nicolas Klinger (G-Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000) celebrated over Jan Habig and Robert Paisley (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000) was even smaller at only 8,2 sec. Stage wins were battled over for tenths of a second, making this one of the most hotly contested editions of this event in years. No one driver was able to romp off into the distance with the rally lead; the front of the rally changed four times over the final four stages, with the top two at one time being separated by a slender 0.2sec.
The pivotal point of this event came in stages 10 and 11. Day One and Day Two’s morning leader Mark Cronje/Robin Houghton enjoyed a 20,2sec margin over Conrad Rautenbach/Nicolas Klinger. Rautenbach put the hammer down to reel in Cronje and leapfrog him to end the stage with a slender 0,2sec. Cronje, Enzo Kuun (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000) and Habig were left scratching their heads at Rautenbach’s searing pace through this stage. At the end of SS10, the running order was as follows: 01) Rautenbach, 02) Cronje + 0,2sec, 03) Habig + 11,4sec, 04) Kuun + 18,7sec. Habig and Kuun traded places in this stage too, and Habig capitalized on his Day One momentum.
SS11 was the event’s turning point. Cronje made a driving error when he misjudged his speed over a jump, landed with his car’s nose first into the gravel to damage his car and retire from the event at the end of the stage. Rautenbach moved further ahead into the lead with a handy 11,3sec cushion over the hard-charging Habig who extended his lead over teammate Kuun to 9,7sec.
Through SS12, Habig outfoxed his younger rival to jump into a 0,3sec lead over Zimbabwean Rautenbach and 26,6sec over Kuun. The final gravel stage of the event, SS13, saw Rautenbach work magic behind the steering wheel of his G-Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000 as he regained the lead and a 7,4sec gap over Habig. Defending Champion Kuun was unable to stick with the two leaders as they tried to outdo each other and settled for third place overall 43,1sec behind Rautenbach. The rally’s final leader board didn’t change through the final 01km tarmac Super Special Stage, handing Rautenbach and Klinger a much-deserved victory.
Rautenbach managed to outgun Habig in his own backyard, but what was most telling was that the off-season updates and settings changes to the Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 have brought it up to speed with the mighty Ford Fiesta S2000.
What happened to the rest of the Class S2000 runners? Most exciting was Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Team Total Evolution Toyota RunX S2000) as they fought for a top five position on Day One saw them continue their chase on Day Two’s opening stage. Unfortunately, a string of frustrating mechanical problems saw Moosa fighting to bring his car to the finish line. With the pace needed to hound the newer (and factory-backed) machinery, this pairing will be closely watched in the upcoming Sasol Rally. Teammates Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Carolyn Swan brought their machine home in fifth place overall, ahead of the factory Toyota crews after a consistent and mature drive.
Disappointing on this event was the Castrol Toyota team as they struggled with technical troubles, not able to show their rivals their true pace.
Doggedly determined to see the end of this rally high up the finishing order were Jon Williams/Cobus Very (Sasol Rally Team Ford Fiesta S2000). Struggling with a mysterious misfire and differential difficulties on Day One, Williams then had a few minor mechanical hiccups on Day Two that slowed his overall pace. Despite that, Williams first rally in 18 months went extremely well and a podium is within this talented drivers grasp on the next event.
HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS will feature a full review of the Junior Championships (S1600 and S1400) will be featured in next week’s issue, but in brief Ashley Haigh-Smith/Hilton Auffray (Ford Fiesta R2) claimed the inaugural S1600 honours while Megan Verlaque/Lirene du Plessis (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1400) clinched the win in their first outing in this highly competitive Class.
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
01) C. Rautenbach/N. Klinger
Ford Fiesta S2000 – 01hr 40m 44.0s
02) J. Habig/R. Paisley
Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 + 08.2s
03) E. Kuun/G. Hodgson
Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 + 44.1s
04) H. Fekken/P. Arries
Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 + 02m 06.8s
05) J-P. Damseaux/C. Swan
Toyota RunX S2000 + 02m 16.8s
06) N. Ryan/G. Tyrer
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 02m 38.2s
07) J. Williams/C. Vrey
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 02m 39.7s
08) G. De Villiers/R. Pitchford
Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 + 03m 19.3s
09) J. Van Niekerk/D. Lewkowicz
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 05m 16.1s
10) J. Gemmell/D. Sturrock
Toyota Auris S2000 + 05m 23.9s
S1600 CLASSIFICATION
01) A. Haigh-Smith/H. Auffray
Ford Fiesta R2 – 02hr 06m 32.6s
02) T. Conradie/K. Naidoo
Toyota Auris + 34.5s
03) C. Snyders/C. Snyders
Volkswagen Polo + 52.8s
S1400 CLASSIFICATION:
01) M. Verlaque/L. Du Plessis
Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 02hr 20m 09.4s