Craig Trott and Robbie Coetzee ensured Team Total finished the 2010 season with a championship win when they took the 1600 cc title in their Toyota RunX in the final round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship in Gauteng on Saturday.
The veteran Trott once again demonstrated the value of consistency as he and Coetzee won class A6 in the two-day Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally and became the only pairing in the championship to finish all eight rounds. They were on the podium in their class in each round and won the last two events, finishing the season second, a single point behind class winners Leeroy Poulter and Henry Dearlove in a Toyota RunX. Poulter moved up to class S2000 for the last two events after clinching the A6 title.
Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan (class S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX) finished the season second in the privateers’ championship despite dropping out of the rally on the third last stage on Saturday with a broken engine.
While not particularly enjoying the all-tarmac first day on Friday, Damseaux was seventh after the day’s five stages, which were held at the Gerotek vehicle testing facility near Pretoria with a final 19-km stage at Zwartkops Raceway.
The Team Total pair was having a good run on Saturday, which consisted of seven all-gravel stages in the Bapsfontein area, and was lying 7th when the engine failed. Thanks to their consistency over the previous seven events, they were able to maintain their second place in the privateers’ championship behind the Zimbabwean pair of Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh in a Ford Fiesta.
Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin finished 12th overall and 12th in class S2000 in their Team Total Toyota RunX. Moosa, competing in his first season in the top class after winning class A6 last year with Martin, was 11th at the end of the first day, admitting he didn’t particularly enjoy the tarmac stages. More comfortable on the dirt, he had moved up to ninth by the penultimate stage, but then lost three places as a result of a flat tyre.
Fernando Rueda and Dave Lewkowicz, competing in their last rally together following Rueda’s decision to retire at the end of the season, finished 13th. They had a quiet and uneventful final outing, enjoying the experience and keeping out of trouble. The Spanish-born Rueda’s successful career in rallying in South Africa includes three Western Province championships, the African Rally Championship in 2003 and the national N4 championship, all in Mitsubishi Lancer Evos. He joined Team Total in 2005 and has spent the last two years in Toyotas.
“Dave and I enjoyed our last outing together,” said Rueda. “It’s sad to be leaving, but it’s time and I have no regrets at all. I’m very grateful to Total and Toyota for the last few years of my career, which have been a lot of fun.”
– Credit: Total South Africa.