New year rings in the changes for the BP Volkswagen team

The BP Volkswagen team is the standard by which all other national rally teams in South Africa are measured. Six consecutive national rally titles are proof of this.

The 2010 season marked the sixth consecutive national title victory for the BP Volkswagen rally team but 2011 is shaping to be the most exciting season yet – and the team have announced their new line-up for the coming season which starts in late March.

The 2010 championship-winning duo of Enzo Kuun and navigator Guy Hodgson will tackle the new season side-by-side. For Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries the partnership will also continue into the new season, contesting the S2000 class in their BP Volkswagen Polo.

For Jan Habig 2011 will see a new navigator – and a new team member for the BP Volkswagen crew – enter the fray. Habig will partner with Robert Paisley for the new season. Paisley has moved across from navigating for Leeroy Poulter in the Toyota Auris to join Habig in the championship-winning BP Volkswagen Polo team.

These are the three headline teams for the BP Volkswagen rally team that have proved themselves six times over. This is the team that everyone has been expecting to campaign the 2011 season – but the BP Volkswagen team have another card to play in the S2000 field this year.

Ralph Pitchford navigated for Jan Habig in the 2010 season – and will again navigate in a BP Volkswagen S2000 Polo this year, in an entry that will feature none other than fellow Dakar competitor Giniel de Villiers at the wheel.

De Villiers and Pitchford are Dakar teammates but do not compete in the same Race Touareg in those events. In South Africa the duo will team up to compete in a much shorter format to the 5 000 km they are used to. The local competition will be intense, packing a great deal of action into a fraction of the distance.

The team will now field four Works entries – with the newcomers also likely to compete in the BP Ultimate colours of the BP Volkswagen rally team from 2011. The new S2000 Polo of De Villiers and Pitchford and the three teams that have proved themselves consistently over the years promise to make the 2011 season a dynamite championship for South Africa.

These are not the only changes to take place in the BP Volkswagen camp this season. The A7 BP Volkswagen entry of Gugu Zulu – who claimed this class title in 2010 – will see the return of navigator Carl Peskin. Peskin campaigned by Zulu’s side in the A5 category before briefly going their separate ways. For 2011 they will campaign together again in the hopes of a double-victory for Zulu in this class.

A new entry into the A5 class for the BP Volkswagen team is that of Megan Verlaque who will campaign with a female navigator, Lirene du Plessis. Verlaque and Du Plessis will tackle the 2011 challenge as an all-girl entry in the A5 class campaigning the Polo Vivo that debuted so successfully in the 2010 season.

For Verlaque this will not be her first outing as part of an all-girl rally team. She is one half of the original Rally Chicks that saw Megan navigating for her sister Lola. Now Megan has moved over to the driver’s seat and will have Du Plessis, providing direction.

Du Plessis will run with Verlaque as a probationary navigator for the first few rallies during which time her performance as a navigator will be under scrutiny. In fact, even when the probationary period is over, the A5 ladies’ team will remain in the spotlight.

As a development initiative the competitors in the Volkswagen A5 Polo Vivo will have a maximum of two years in which to develop their rally skills. After this two year period a new development team will be put in place to continue and further extend the A5 rally development programme.

The idea is to nurture new rally talent by providing promising competitors a strong platform from which to spring into rallying by forming their own team or being snapped up by another team after their tenure in the A5 class is complete. The aim is to develop and grow the pool of rally competitors in South Africa.

The A5 Volkswagen Polo proved itself a serious contender in the 2010 season and is sure to deliver more rally action this year. For Verlaque and navigator Du Plessis it will be a season with a steep learning curve and they will have to work hard getting used to their new car and settling in as teammates.

There is a great deal of action expected in the 2011 national rally season and the BP Volkswagen team is poised to both tackle the challenge and is ready to raise the bar on the national rally scene once again.
– Credit: Volkswagen of South Africa.