The Challenge:
In just one stage of the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally the leader board was turned on its head. The rally’s nine stages and 196km of competitive action proved to be highly entertaining, but it was stage 7, the 39km-long third stage of Day Two, in which the event was transformed from a dominant one-two display from Toyota to a podium with lacking in Toyotas.
This the seventh round of the South African Rally Championship was characterised by high-speeds, tight corners and jumps that saw competitors thrillingly flying through the air. Rally cars’ endurance and reliability was tested to their maximums, with only 25 of the 47 original entrants reaching the finish on Saturday afternoon.
Warm weather, cloudless skies and midges were the order of the day for the thousands of spectators who lined the stages to cheer on their favourite crews. Western Cape is renowned for its enthusiastic motorsport fans, and this weekend’s event provided action from the top drawer.
After Day One’s 69.31km of stage action, the rally was led by the Toyota Auris S2000 machines of Johnny Gemmell/Drew Sturrock and Leeroy Poulter/Elvene Coetzee with the Ford Fiesta S2000 of Conrad Rautenbach/Nicolas Klinger rounding out the podium.
With five stages set for Day Two, four contested on gravel and the tarmac finale extravaganza at Killarney Race Track, the overnight podium was dramatically different at the finishing ceremony. Rautenbach claimed his third win of the 2011 season with a winning margin of 23 seconds over Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson (Volkswagen Polo S2000) and Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich (Ford Fiesta S2000).
The Crews:
Team Total is proudly South Africa’s largest privateer rally team, powering four cars in two different Classes. Chasing a podium position throughout the nine stages was former winner of this rally Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan (Team Total Toyota Auris S2000), who finished fourth overall, some 43 seconds off third place overall.
“It was a great rally for us and we were fighting for the podium,” said Damseaux. “We pushed hard for a strong result, and it has given us the confidence we need with our new rally car. We know that a few things on the car need to change, and we have the data we now require for this. But, those rally winners were very quick. The pace is so hot this season that if you hesitate just for a moment before a corner once or twice in a stage, your stage time will not be competitive; it is fast out there!”
He added: “We will push even harder on the final rally of the season next month. We are getting to grips with the car and we showed that by finishing as the fastest Toyota rally car on this event, not for the first time this season.”
In eighth place overall, and the second Team Total crew home, was the Toyota Auris S2000 of Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin. This the pairing’s second top ten finish in two events, Moosa and Martin are beginning to tap into the potential of their new rally car.
“It was just a few small things that added up to a rally time for us that was just off the pace,” said Moosa. “Our experience of the rally was fantastic, as the event was fast and well-run, with the roads and stages for this year making for a great rally. We learned a great deal about our car again on this event. It is a learning curve for us at the moment and we will be developing the car over the coming weeks to reel in our rivals on the next rally.”
The Two Wheel Drive Championship, comprising Classes S1600 and S1400, is contested by two Team Total crews: multiple Class champions Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee and South Africa Rally Championship’s only all-female crew of Stefanie Botha/Angela Shields.
A retirement at the end of Day One for Botha/Shields was due to engine gremlins in their Toyot RunX S1600, relegating Team Total’s two rally ladies to spectators fr Day Two.
Driving with verve on Day Two’s five stages, Trott/Coetzee climbed the leader board from fifth in Class S1600 to finish the event second in Class and adding valuable points to their Championship aims.
“We gave it out all on this event, and we did the rallying with our heads,” said Trott. “The rally was very fast and we drove within our limits to make certain of a podium result. Our strategy paid off and we are smiling.”
Team Total next competes in the series’ finale on 21 – 22 October 2011.
The Leader Board:
01) C. Rautenbach/N. Klinger (Ford Fiesta S2000) – 01h 39min 16.3sec
02) E. Kuun/G. Hodgson (Volkswagen Polo S2000) + 23sec
03) C. Wilken/G. Godrich (Ford Fiesta S2000) + 29.6sec
04) J-P. Damseaux/C. Swan (Team Total Toyota Auris S2000) + 01min 13.8sec
05) H. Lategan/J. Van der Merwe (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 01min 16.1sec
06) L. Poulter/E. Coetzee (Toyota Auris S2000) + 01min 19.7sec
07) J. Williams/C. Very (Ford Fiesta S2000) + 02min 05.8sec
08) M. Moosa/G. Martin (Team Total Toyota Auris S2000) + 03min 06.0sec
09) M. Cronje/R. Houghton (Ford Fiesta S2000) + 03min 17.3sec
10) J. Habig/R. Paisley (Volkswagen Polo S2000) + 03min 52.5sec
18th overall, 2nd in Class S1600: C. Trott/R. Coetzee (Team Total Toyota RunX S1600) – 01h 59min 11.2sec
Follow Team Total:
For news and photographs live from the event, visit us on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/pBFCpZ and on Twitter at http://bit.ly/jBLu4j. For more information, please visit www.totalmotorsport.co.za.