Privateers Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton completed their domination of the Volkswagen Rally in the Eastern Cape this weekend when they brought their S2000 Sasol Ford Fiesta home in first place at King’s Beach in Port Elizabeth.
Watched by a huge crowd of spectators in warm and sunny conditions, the Sasol Ford pair completed the 175-km 12-special stage event 36,1 seconds ahead of the factory Castrol Toyota of last year’s winners, Johnny Gemmell and Drew Sturrock. Third, a further, 1 min 32,8 sec back was the first of the four factory BP Volkswagen Polos, driven by reigning national rally champions Enzo Kuun and navigated by Guy Hodgson.
Kuun just edged out team-mates and former champions Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, who were fourth, 6,1 sec behind. Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and French co-driver Nicolas Klinger were fifth in their Green Fuel Ford Fiesta, 2 min 10,6 sec behind the winners. Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey were sixth in another Sasol Ford Fiesta, 45,9 sec behind Rautenbach.
Rounding out the top 10 were Nicolas Ryan/Armand du Toit (S2000 Grandmark International VW Polo), Red Bull driver Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford (S2000 BP VW Polo), Guy Botterill/Schalk van Heerden (winners of the Super 1600 class in a Yato Tools Toyota Yaris, and Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman (S2000 Pirtek Peugeot 207).
Cronje and Houghton led at the end of the first day and won four stages on their way to their second consecutive national championship rally victory. They never put a foot wrong on a tough event made more difficult by recent heavy rains and by the traditionally daunting Longmore Forest stages.
The high-speed slippery surface in the forests took its toll. On Friday, on the first visit to the forests, top contenders Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich (S2000 Basil Read/bizhub Ford Fiesta) crashed out a few kilometres into the first stage, to be followed by Japie van Niekerk and Simon Vacy-Lyle (S2000 New Africa Developments VW Polo).
Other prominent casualties included Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee in the second factory Toyota, who rolled while lying second on the second stage on Friday. They competed under non-points scoring Super Rally conditions on Saturday after overnight repairs and scored a stage win on the penultimate stage (a new tar stage next to the football World Cup stadium).
Botterill and Van Heerden’s performance in the Super 1600 class was impressive. It was Botterill’s maiden win in his first year in rallying and to finish inside the top 10 overall on such a tough rally was a great achievement. Second in the class was multiple former class A6 champion Craig Trott and co-driver Robbie Coetzee (Team Total Toyota RunX) and third was former class A7 champion Chris de Wit with Frans de Wit in a Toyota Corolla.
Current S1600 championship front runners Christoff and sister Celeste Snyders (Sabertek VW Polo) were in a three-way battle for the class lead on Friday when they broke a wheel and their rear suspension after hitting a curb on one of the tar stages. After replacing the rear axle overnight they went out on Saturday after odometer troubles caused them to get lost and run out of petrol.
Ashley Haigh Smith and James Aldridge (React Ford Fiesta), who had been in the battle with the Snyders’ on Friday, rolled out of contention on Saturday.
Provisional honours in the Super 1400 class went to the only survivors, the all-woman combination of Megan Verlaque and Lirene du Plessis (BP VW Polo), who did very well to finish 15th overall out of just 16 crews that completed the event. There were 33 starters. Their joy was all the sweeter as they edged out former national champions and team-mates Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries in a class S2000 Polo. Fekken and Arries finished last after challenging strongly for second place early on Saturday before breaking a wheel and losing 38 minutes on the road as they effected repairs.
Karting star and rally rookie Ian Young and Henry Dearlove (Associated Alterations Toyota Yaris) rolled out of contention on Saturday after leading the class at the end of the first day.
The next round of the championship is the sixth round of the championship in the George and Knysna areas of the Garden Route on August 26 and 27.
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
01) M. Cronje/R. Houghton
Ford Fiesta S2000 – 01h 42m 07.1s
02) J. Gemmell/D. Sturrock
Toyota Auris S2000 + 36.1s
03) E. Kuun/G. Hodgson
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 01m 32.8s
04) J. Habig/R. Paisley
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 01m 38.9s
05) C. Rautenbach/N. Klinger
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 02m 10.6s
06) J. Williams/C. Vrey
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 02m 56.5s
07) N. Ryan/A. Du Toit
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 03m 50.5s
08) G. De Villiers/R. Pitchford
Volkswagen Polo S2000 + 04m 46.8s
09) M. Moosa/G. Martin
Toyota Auris S2000 + 05m 27.7s
10) G. Botterill/S. Van Heerden
Toyota RunX S1600 + 15m 37.0s