Day One of the inaugural HMC Rally, Round Three of the South African Rally Championship, took in three stages today in and around Witbank.
The opening stage, a short 4,67km test over slippery gravel tracks, was made all the more treacherous by the hidden rocks lying in wait for unsuspecting rally crews as they used every inch of the roads in search of optimum traction.
This stage was won by Conrad Rautenbach/Nicolas Klinger (G-Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000), and the pairing held a slender advantage of 01.5sec over the chasing crews. Jan Habig/Robert Paisley (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo S2000) claimed second overall ahead of a determined Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich (Basil Read Ford Fiesta S2000), a further 01.3sec adrift.
After a Service opposite the Portuguese Club in Witbank, competitors tackled two stages over 37.08km before the overnight halt. These stages proved less slippery, but by no means any less dramatic or fast as the first stage. Wilken leapfrogged both Habig and Rautenbach to snatch the overnight lead by 07.3sec over his rivals. Rautenbach now lies second overall, Leeroy Poulter/Elvene Coetzee (Castrol Toyota Auris S2000) in third and 07.9sec behind.
Team Total, the largest privateer rally team in South Africa, is represented in the top ten by Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan (Toyota RunX S2000). The pairing started the rally strongly and put their rivals under pressure, and despite an overshoot in the third stage this afternoon they are only 34.9sec off the leader’s pace. Class S2000 compatriots and teammates Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin suffered mechanical woes on the second stage, and dropped time as a result of clutch maladies. This was rectified at the Service at the end of Day One’s stages, and the crew are confident of a charge up the leader board tomorrow.
Class S1600 runners Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee and Stefanie Botha/Angela Shields experienced a mixed bag of results on the opening day. At the overnight halt, Trott sits comfortably in third place in Class S1600, and will undoubtedly aim to reel in his rivals. Botha and Shields’s pace was hindered by a frustrating misfire that sapped the engine of crucial power. Day Two brings more opportunities for the all-female crew to work their way back into contention for Class points.
The rally route for tomorrow will see more challenging roads for crews to encounter, with many regarding this event as potentially boasting the fastest stages currently in South Africa. There are eight stages remaining tomorrow and 130.76km of competitive distance yet to run, and the fight for the position is not over for any team. Action gets underway at 08h13 outside Witbank and travels to Bronkhorstspruit before concluding in the afternoon at Portuguese Club in Witbank at 15h20.
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