14/08/08 - The 6th round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship is a test of the brave as the title fight heads to the Southern Drakensberg for the Osram Rally on 15th and 16th August. Previously known as the ‘Border Mountain Trial’, the Osram Rally returns to the spectacular region around Barkly East for the first time in four years, where average speeds reach 110km/h, which means the speedometer must nudge upwards of a staggering 160km/h for most of the nine stages – on sweeping gravel mountain passes with frightening drops into the valleys far below – and keep this up for 207km.

Evocative names like Wartrail, Heuningneskloof, Bokspruit and Bottelnek are legendary stages from days gone by and now back in the Sasol Rally Championship. Run at altitudes ranging from 2200 to 2600 metres above sea level, air becomes 'thinner'. At 2,700 metres above sea level, air density is approximately 25 per cent less than at sea level. This can affect the drivers from an athletic point of view, and also the cars from a technical point of view.

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries have amassed 109 points so far, a 19 point lead at the top of the championship standings having powered their class S2000 BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo to a pair of wins and a pair of second places. Last time out, Fekken removed the left front corner of his car but fought back up to 4th at the finish. He can afford to drop more points, but wants to win rallies, so expect an all out assault on the Osram Rally for another winner’s trophy.

The current SA Rally Champions, Jan Habig/Douglas Judd in the second BP VW Polo, lie second in the title chase with 90 points to their name. A single win on the season’s opening round has been supplemented by a solid finishing record and Habig, the most experienced driver in the field, knows how championships are won and lost and cannot be discounted from the victory equation.

Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson, champions in 2006, have also taken their BP Polo to victory this season, but two non-finishes have dented their title hopes. They need two wins and both team mates to fall out twice in the three remaining rallies to get back on terms with the top of the leaderboard, an unlikely scenario.

Toyota will debut their eagerly awaited Castrol Toyota Auris in class S2000 guise after a lengthy development and homologation process. One Auris will be in the hands of Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley, winners of the most recent event in the eight-round Sasol Championship. Cronje, in his first season of top-line rallying, laid down his marker from the very first round and will be a man on the move as he pushes his new car to its limits.

Johnny Gemmell and Zimbabwean Peter Marsh will to make do one last time with the tried and tested Castrol Toyota RunX as the team races to build the second Auris in time for the second vist to the Western Cape next month; they too have nothing to lose and would love to interfere in the championship fight raging all around them.

Third in the title chase and the top Toyota competitor on the leaderboard is the privateer S2000 Toyota RunX entry of Japie van Niekerk and the experienced Robin Houghton, finishers on every round so far, including a season-opening visit to the podium. They can reasonably be expected to finish well inside the top 8.

Nicholas Ryan has been racing against the clock to re-build his S2000 Philips Shavers/Jonnesway Toyota RunX after the worst accident of the season put the car down a mountain on the Volkswagen Rally last month and his navigator in hospital and out of the balance of the season.

Andre Vermeulen will do map reading duties for the balance of the year and was co-driver to the winning team on the Mountain Trial back in 2003, so is highly experienced in what it takes to conquer the mountains.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey (S2000 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) had a good start to the season but suffered appalling luck when the gearbox broke on the start line of stage 1 last time out, knocking them from 4th to 6th in the title race. The son of the ten times SA Rally Champion Serge is brave and should fare well on the ultra fast stages if the car holds out.

Jon/Douglas Williams (Western Cape Tourism Volkswagen Polo) will be out to improve on their 6th on the VW Rally, but the youngster has yet to tackle the daunting mountains but he too is ambitious with an eye on a future factory drive.

Class A7, the two wheel drive version of the four-wheel driven S2000 class, is still a Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys benefit, having taken their Total Evolution Toyota RunX to three consecutive wins. The team was excluded from the VW Rally and this will cost them lost points for two rallies, as their worst score of the year which may be dropped for calculating the championship, still has to be deducted.

Fortunately for the KwaZulu Natal team, their main title rivals all self-destructed on the VW Rally, the class recording a single finisher! Adrian Karth/Rikus Fourie finally showed what they and the NetConnect Volkswagen Polo can do; winning from the front and the rejuvenated Karth will be a real contender in the north-eastern Cape event.

16 points adrift of the Total Toyota is the Polokwane based Theuns Viljoen/Hennie Botes combination, who claimed a class wins in their Salom VW Polo earlier this year. The team is quick and should score well if they bring the car home.

Middelburg businessman Michael Otto and Armand du Toit (Barloworld Toyota Corolla) are a further three points back but the 2006 Northern Regions Champion has shown his natural speed on several occasions this year and can be expected to mix it with the newer machinery.

Off Road special vehicle champion Evan Hutchinson and co-driver Greg Gericke (Motorite Toyota RunX) will be well satisfied with another helping of points to add to their tally in the driver’s first season in the sport.

Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo) has been quick but erratic with two non-finishes keeping them away from the sharp end of the A7 fight.

Class A6 is going the way of Craig Trott/Tony Ball and their Total Evolution Toyota RunX; 12 points clear of their only rivals, Stefan Wilken/Llewellyn Fourie (Pannar Seeds Volkswagen Polo). This championship is still subject to appeal after an administration error on the last round, and Trott’s lead may yet be 15 points depending on the outcome of matters to be heard by Motorsport SA at the time of writing.

The big interest in class A6 will be the debut of Mohammed Moosa’s Toyota Auris decked out in Total Evolution colours. He and co-driver Grant Martin have a win and second to their name, as well as two non-finishes, so the new car - once sorted - should reinstate Moosa’s name regularly on the class points log.

Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier still lead the class A5 title race in their BP Ultimate Volkswagen CitiGolf, but after a clean sweep of two back-to-back wins on the opening rounds of the season, followed up with two rolls and subsequent second places. They too, were excluded from the last round for a tyre rule infringement, and will be under severe pressure as the season unfolds.

Their main rival is the Techwood/Sasol Toyota Tazz of Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe, victors on the last two rounds; this pair now has the championship in their sights and will drive accordingly.

Catching both the leading small-engined modified teams is Dave Compton/Paul Leslie in their rapid Sasol Toyota Yaris. Compton has been unlucky on the last two rallies, retiring while leading comfortably at the time; he will want to follow through on his obvious pace and the fast, flowing nature of the stages should suit his track racing background to a tee.

Hard driving motoring journalist Steve Mearns and Ciaran Nunan are creeping into the picture in their rapid Multi Purpose Cement Toyota Tazz, there or thereabouts and waiting to pounce should any of the newer cars stumble.

Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser have a new Total Evolution Toyota Yaris and are starting to show what the pair is capable of, setting competitive times on their outings as they get to grips with the best car Mabanga has had in his short career.

Rounding out the modified entry is the Ford Ka of Tony Barbosa/Robbie Coetzee; the Ford Racing entry is under public development and has shown promise on its limited mileage to date.

PRODUCTION CARS:

Turbo-charged four wheel drive cars dominate the production car category and it is these monsters from Subaru and Mitsubishi that thrill the crowds. Heading the title chase is Carl Wilken and Greg Godrich in their Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza N12B, with 56 points chalked up against their names. Three wins and a second place puts the Wilken team at the head of the pack with a slim 7 point advantage over the defending production car champion Visser du Plessis. Another win will edge the pair closer to their holy grail and they should start as favourites, but the class is filled with essentially evenly-matched cars, and is a tough nut to crack.

Armed with the latest Prodrive Subaru Impreza N14 and Pirtek backing, Du Plessis and co-driver Gerhard Snyman have yet to win this year but have shown the pace of their new machine and could crack their maiden win on the Osram Rally.

Richard and Natasha Vaughan, the Natal-based husband and wife team are third in the production car race in their very capable KMG Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 after a string of solid finishes this year and may well spring a surprise if the ‘big guns’ falter.

Fernando Rueda and Dave Lewkowicz will give their all to bring their Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 home after two non-finishes dropped them to 4th in the title race. The flamboyant Spaniard is very quick and can be expected to put up a good fight to get back on a par with the leaders.

Hein Lategan/Johan vd Merwe (Steve’s Auto Clinic Subaru Impreza N12B) led the category last time out but succumbed to electrical failure before day two’s action got underway. This team is one that will win before the season has run its course and the Barkly East event could be the one. Lategan, a former touring car racer was immediately on the pace since joining class N4 on the Sasol Rally in May.

Paul Pfeifer/Cindi Harding (Nobili Subaru Impreza N14) debuted their new car last month but with little time to test, the event was more of a shakedown than a competitive outing. Pfeifer had a horrid start to the year but still beat everyone with his old Evo 6 Mitsubishi on the Sasol Rally, so armed with the latest Subaru, will be watched carefully.

Joos/Danie Stassen (De Goede Finance Subaru Impreza N12) will be hoping to survive their first encounter with the mountains and add much needed points to their scorecard this time out after recording their first non-finish of the year in the Eastern Cape.

Lola and Megan Verlaque (Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) have done well since switching from Subaru to rival Mitsubishi, their best placing 10th overall on the Total Rally in June, so the popular Rally Chicks team is capable of upstaging the men.

The front wheel drive production car brigade is embroiled in a titanic struggle for the class championship. Heading the points table is veteran Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan (N3 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) who out-lasted all the other title rivals to score 6 valuable points when their opponents were decimated by the Longmore Forest.

Hardest hit was privateer Kosta Koumantarakis/Lou Zietsman (Toyota RunX) who crashed heavily at high speed while not under any real pressure. That lapse in concentration cost them the class lead and they are now 3 points adrift of Visagie.

Another crew with winning ability is the Sasol Toyota RunX of Etienne Lourens/Patrick Vermaak, well in the lead last time out until forced to retire. This pairing will be at it hammer and tongs over the Osram route to make up the six point deficit they need to take the championship lead.

Etienne Lourens/Elvene Coetzee claimed Ford’s first rally win in a decade, taking N3 honours on the last event in their official factory backed Ford Racing Fiesta ST. They will be hard pressed to repeat that result against the more powerful RunX brigade but Lourens has won the Mountain Trial overall in the past, so his bravery is a known factor, while Koumantarakis and Du Toit have yet to graduate from rallying’s scariest challenge.

Rounding out the class entry is Chase Attwell/Dave Milner in their Jonnesway Toyota RunX. The young Zimbabwean is prone to invert his RunX as he finds the limit but should be more circumspect in the mountains.

The lone class N2 entry of Riaan/Hester Erasmus need to bring their ABC Motors Toyota Corolla home to stay ahead of the class log.