15/03/09 - The Sasol SA Rally Championship is alive and well as thousands of excited KwaZulu Natal fans can testify after witnessing a dramatic and unpredictable Total Tour Natal Rally, the opening round of the 2009 season.

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh stormed through blistering heat on day one and wet and muddy conditions on Saturday to claim a 2 minute win ahead of a brilliant performance by the reigning production car champions, Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich, and the defending overall rally champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries claiming the final podium place.

The new season’s drama started just 3km into the very first stage on Friday morning, when Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson nearly rolled their S2000 BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo, which struck an earth bank and broke the front suspension. Two hundred metres down the road, the Polo’s lower control arm broke, pitching the Polo across the stage, blocking it completely.

In a twist of irony, Kuun’s team mates Jannie Habig/Douglas Judd and Fekken/Arries were next on the road and both came to a grinding halt, losing around 4½ minutes and 2½ minutes respectively, effectively ending their challenge for victory.

Day one was all about Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley and the S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris; the pair built a massive 48 second lead over just six stages, ahead of the second Castrol Auris of Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh, who had the unfortunate task of road sweeping for their rivals after Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX) went off the road for good 6km into the day’s first stage.

Another top crew to crash out after a tie rod end broke in stage 4 was Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (S2000 New Africa Developments Toyota RunX). The car was repaired and Van Niekerk ran on Saturday under SuperRally rules, until another tie rod broke after clobbering a rock, pitching the NAD Toyota down an embankment.

Behind the leading Toyotas, a massive battle for supremacy played out between the three leading production car crews of Hein Lategan/Johan van der Merwe (Diesel Technic Subaru Impreza), Wilken/Godrich (Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza) and Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman (Pirtek Subaru Impreza). Lategan held the lead until after the first of two Pinetown SuperSpecial stages, when the Impreza refused to fire up for 8 agonizing minutes, earning the pair an 80 second penalty.

Wilken ended Friday’s action filled day third overall, ahead of Du Plessis, Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX), Fekken/Arries - who were clawing their way back into contention and S2000 debutants Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes (Salom Volkswagen Polo) and Lategan/Van Der Merwe.

Saturday dawned overcast with rain threatening, and Cronje set about building the Castrol Auris’ lead even further. The second stage of the day put and end to that – the car slid wide on lose gravel and rolled out of the rally, handing the lead to Gemmell and Marsh, who made no mistakes and swept to a convincing victory, the first for the East Rand businessman and Zimbabwean co-driver in over a year.

Wilken and Godrich came under increased pressure from Fekken and Arries as the VW pair made a play for 2nd place overall. The 2008 champions won the final three stages, closing to just 11 seconds shy of 2nd place overall.

For Wilken it was a remarkable performance and the Sasol driver’s highest ever overall placing on a national rally. The Konica Minolta team debuted their new Prodrive Subaru Impreza N14, and with minimal testing, the Pretoria driver had to keep his wits about him with wayward set-up problems.

Jan Habig/Douglas Judd (S2000 BP Polo), eventually made up sufficient time to end 4th overall, rescuing a healthy points haul after what appeared a desperate situation on Friday morning, while Lategan slipped to 5th after his spectacular drive and du Plessis fell out with a broken gearbox late on Saturday afternoon.

Rueda/Vrey kept sponsors Total happy with a trouble free run to 6th, ahead of the unsponsored S2000 Toyota RunX of Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer.

Another S2000 debutant, Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes (Salom VW Polo) kept things clean barring a last stage puncture to end 8th overall, three minutes ahead of Mike Nathan/Derek Jacobs (N4 AWI Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), who overcame day one fuel pump problems that saw the car stop in an open section after stage 5.

Stevan Wilken and new co-driver Greg Gericke won on their first outing in class A7 with a great run to 10th overall. The Pannar Seeds/Triton Express VW Polo had a loose suspension component on day one which cost the crew 1½ minutes, but that time was made up again by the first Pinetown stage, where they promptly lost it all again with a wrong slot!

Class rivals Schalk Burger Jr/Armand du Toit (Spike Energy Drink Toyota Corolla) and Michael Otto/Tommy du Toit (Liqui Moly Toyota Corolla) both retired with engine problems, leaving the way for a troubled Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee to take the class A7 runner-up spot in their Motorite Toyota RunX after enduring a rally-long incurable misfire that robbed the car of power and blunting their challenge.

The Rally Chicks Lola/Megan Verlaque brought their S2000 Sunvic Volkswagen Polo home 11th overall after driving the whole event without power steering.

Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan, the current class N3 champions, have moved up to class A6 and started their new career with a convincing win, taking their Team Total Toyota RunX to a 37 second lead over the class A6 champion Craig Trott and Robbie Coetzee in a similar Total Toyota RunX.

Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Team Total Toyota Auris) were two minutes ahead of the class A6 group but had an incident in an open section with another competitor, damaging the car that would later force their retirement.

Sasol’s Dave Compton and new navigator Pierre Jordaan brought their Toyota RunX home to the class N3 win without an real issues with their only rivals Riaan/Hester Erasmus retiring late in the event.

Volkswagen locked away class A5 with a 1-2-3 finish, Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin finishing ahead of team mates Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier, both in BP Ultimate Volkswagen CitiGolfs. Youngster Morne Janse van Rensburg and Dewald Hattingh claimed their best ever finish in their GC Diesel CitiGolf, ahead of 15-year-old Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris).

Riyad Jaffer, a former circuit racer and Henry Dearlove were the last of the classified 22 finishers from the 38 starters, after sliding their class A5 Sasol Toyota Yaris off the road in the same Esperanza stage on each run through that sugar can plantation.

Other notable retirements included:

· Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys (A7 Team Total Toyota RunX) – did not start after the engine broke on Thursday before the event.

· Chase Attwell/Brian Carrihill (N4 Jonnesway Subaru Impreza) – engine detonated in stage 6 after failing to compensate for running Avgas fuel in the African Championship, instead of the 98 octane fuel in the SA series.

· Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser (A5 Team Total Toyota Yaris) – crashed SS 13

The second round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship is the Toyota Dealer Rally in the Western Cape on the 3rd and 4th April.