The Challenge:
Forest roads provide rallying with its ultimate challenges. A new route, in a region last used some 17 years ago, with ever-changing weather conditions adding to the excitement, rallying enjoyed an extra injection of excitement this weekend.
The inaugural Garden Route Rally, and this the sixth round of the South African Rally Championship, saw 32 competitors take to the Outeniqua Forest roads on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 August. At its conclusion on Saturday afternoon, only 17 crews were classified as finishers after a treacherous route.
The Ford Fiesta S2000 pairing of Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton claimed their third successive win of the season, dominating the rally from start to end. Finishing behind them were their fierce rivals piloting two Toyota Auris S2000s, Johnny Gemmell/Drew Sturrock and Leeroy Poulter/Elvene Coetzee rounding out the podium positions.
The Crews:
The four-car squad of Team Total, South Africa’s largest privateer rally team, tackled this weekend’s rally with determination, aggression and commitment. After 170km and nine stages of intense competition forests surrounding George and Knysna, Team Total’s pair of Two-Wheel Drive Championship contenders succumbed to mechanical woes that led to their retirement from the rally. Craig Trott and Robbie Coetzee (Toyota RunX S1600) saw their rally come to an abrupt end 7km from the end of the finish line of the final stage. Stefanie Botha and Angela Shields (also driving a Toyota RunX S1600) retired on Day One.
After a cautious Day One, Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan, who contest the premier Class S2000 in a Toyota Auris S2000, attacked Saturday’s stages to move from an overnight 12th to a solid eight position overall at the conclusion of the rally.
“We picked up the pace on today’s dry conditions,” said Damseaux. “We are happy with our result of eighth, and we also gained further insight into our new car. Our confidence is growing in leaps and bounds, and with this tough event behind us now we are looking forward to the rally in the Cape Town area next month.”
Tenth place overall at the overnight halt, Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin (also piloting a Toyota Auris S2000 in the premier Class S2000) fought bravely in their car on Day Two’s five stages. An unfortunate gearbox malady at the end of stage nine, the penultimate speed test of the event, meant the pairing had to change their gearbox and incurred a time penalty. Fortunately, the service crew worked fastidiously to put the team back in action without dropping a position to their hard-chasing rivals. Moosa and Martin finished their event ninth overall, showing an increase in speed in their new rally weapon.
Moosa said: “We found some time this morning and we changed a few settings that saw us improving our feeling of the car. The gearbox problems were a hiccup in an other wise strong weekend.”
The Next Event:
Team Total will next be in action on 23 – 24 September on the Toyota Dealer Cape Rally in the Western Cape’s Swartland region.
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For news, stage times and photographs live from the event, visit us on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/pBFCpZ and on Twitter at http://bit.ly/jBLu4j. You may also find more information at http://www.totalmotortsport.co.za.