Team Total is in the running to win two championships in the final round of the 2010 Sasol SA Rally Championship, the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally this weekend (October 15 and 16).
Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan (class S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX) are second in the privateers’ championship, nine points behind Zimbabwean pair Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh (Ford Fiesta). They are sixth in the overall championship behind four factory teams and Rautenbach/Marsh.
Damseaux, a former Western Province champion, and Swan have won numerous class championships since they joined Team Total in 1998 and would like nothing better than to complete the season with another success.
Craig Trott and Robbie Coetzee (class A6 Team Total Toyota RunX) are leading the 1600 cc championship after a season in which the veteran Trott’s trademark consistency has seen them score points in each of the seven rounds so far. They are the only crew to achieve this feat. With one round remaining they are 21 points clear of Ashley Haigh Smith and Hilton Auffray (Toyota Corolla) with a maximum of 25 points up for grabs.
Trott has also been a member of Team Total since 1998 and has won the class A6 title five times, but this year the 49-year-old Durban businessman will have to settle for second behind Leeroy Poulter (Toyota RunX), who has already clinched the title.
The other two Team Total crews contesting this year’s championship are both completing their first season in the premier S2000 class. For veterans Fernando Rueda and Dave Lewkowicz (Toyota RunX) it will be their last national championship together as Rueda has announced his retirement from the sport.
The 46-year-old Spanish-born Cape Town businessman is very keen to end his 14-year rally career on a high note. His achievements include winning the 2003 African Rally Championship, the 2005 national production car championship and three Western Province championships.
Rounding out the four-car Team Total entry in the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally is the class S2000 Toyota RunX of Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin. They have adapted well to the challenge of the top class, recovering well from a frightening crash earlier in the season, and will be aiming for a top 10 finish in this weekend’s season finale.
Friday is an all-tar affair with five stages at the Gerotek vehicle testing facility west of Pretoria, starting at 13h00, and finishing with a stage at the Zwartkops motor racing circuit. There are five gravel stages on Saturday in the Bapsfontein area with two super special stages at RallyStar on the R51 from Benoni to Bapsfontein, where the rally will finish after 14h00.
– Credit: Total South Africa.