24/05/08 - The Sasol SA National Rally Championship reaches the season mid-point when the 4th round, the Total International Rally gets underway from Ermelo on Thursday 29th May. Three different winners from three rounds so far highlights the competitiveness of the 2008 title race and there are at least another four potential winners waiting for a small change in luck to stand on the top step of the podium.

The three BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo crews are locked in a fierce inter-team rivalry for the title and dominate the points standings with each of the team members having a win apiece. Jan Habig/Douglas Judd laid down their marker on round one, while the Cape was kind to Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries. Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson were the latest winners on the Sasol Rally earlier this month.

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries enjoy a 15-point lead on the championship standings adding two measured second places to their win, driving to take maximum points when a win was unlikely on the day. This makes them a dangerous combination, adding a strategic mind to blinding speed.

The defending rally champions, Habig and Judd are second in line in the championship chase with 52 points, six clear of a resurgent Kuun and Hodgson, back in a front-running car once more.

Do not discount the factory Castrol Toyota RunX team, for the highly experienced Toyota squad has been on the back foot before and bounced back when least expected. In something of a transition year with a new driver combination and development behind the scenes of the new S2000 Toyota Auris, Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley has demonstrated winning speed, as has Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh. Both pairings have been a bit accident-prone and are well outside the championship fight but there are still five rounds to run and anything can still happen to turn the title chase on its head.

Backing up the factory Toyota pair is a trio of privateer S2000 Toyota runners. Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (Toyota RunX) are just five points behind Kuun, 4th on the log, while Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) has led two rallies this year but been thwarted by mechanical problems or punctures.

Nicholas Ryan/Schalk van Heerden (Philips/Jonnesway Toyota RunX) have raised their game considerably and are nibbling at the heels of the factory teams, ending on the podium on the Sasol Rally. The taste of champagne is addictive and Ryan will be aiming for a repeat performance on the Total. Rounding out the S2000 runners is the son and father team of Jon/Douglas Williams in their Guma Volkswagen Polo, quick but blighted by mechanical issues.

Total’s Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys (Toyota RunX) are well placed at the head of the A7 class fight with a twelve-point cushion over rivals Michael Otto/Sipho Mhlanga (Barloworld Toyota Corolla) thanks to two consecutive class wins.

One point behind Otto, there is a tie on nine points between Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes (Salom Volkswagen Polo) and Nico Higgs/Menno Havelaar (HRD Toyota RunX). Joubert won the opening round and is overdue another crack at a class win while Higgs is back in the sport after an eight-year absence and getting quicker on every outing.

Evan Hutchinson, the current off road special vehicle champion and co-driver Greg Gericke have the ex-Cronje championship winning Toyota RunX with Motorite support, but have found the going tough to date. Adrian Karth/Rikus Fourie (NetConnect Volkswagen Polo) finished their first rally of the season on the Sasol and will get closer to the front, while Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo) demonstrated massive speed in the Cape but still only have three points to their names.

Craig Trott and former driver turned navigator Tony Ball lead the class A6 fight in their Total Evolution Toyota RunX thanks to two wins and a second, and are nine points clear of Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin in their Total Evolution Toyota Corolla. Moosa won last time out, showing the Corolla is still a competitive proposition.

Jose de Gouveia/Johan Aucamp (Friendly Grocer Toyota Corolla) are third in the title chase, a single point ahead of Andy Haigh Smith/Jonathan Bright in a similar React Corolla.

Kosta Koumantarakis/Alan Bisset are expected to debut their Total Evolution Toyota RunX in class A6, which should put the cat amongst the pigeons. Stevan Wilken/Llewellyn Fourie (Pannar Seeds Volkswagen Polo) and Charl Strydom/Sakkie Bosman (Sabre Paints VW Polo) represent the Uitenhage brand in class A6 but have lacked reliability to mount a serious challenge.

Class A5, the smallest-engined modified car class has been an Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier benefit to date with two wins and a second in their BP Ultimate Volkswagen CitiGolf to enjoy a twelve point lead over Dave Compton/Paul Leslie’s Sasol Toyota Yaris. Compton won his class on the Sasol Rally in only his third ever gravel event and this class war will be as intense as any other.

Steve Mearns/Ciaran Nunan (MPC Toyota Tazz) are slowly creeping into class contention, fending off Piet Bakkes/Tommy du Toit’s VW CitiGolf. Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe (Techwood/Sasol Toyota Tazz) is one of the fastest combinations but very unlucky this year not to have challenged harder.

Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser will debut their brand new Total Evolution Toyota Yaris and will spend their home event bedding in the car. Tony Barbosa/Les McKenzie (Ford Racing Ka) are hoping to bring their new car home for a few more points after two non-finishes.

PRODUCTION CARS:

The category for production-based cars is every bit as fierce as the modified cars and provides rally fans with a thrilling battle within the rally. Topping the near-standard machinery is class N4 that features the turbo-charged, four-wheel drive machinery from Subaru and Mitsubishi.

Against all the odds, the overall production car championship is led by KwaZulu Natalians Richard and Natasha Vaughan in their unsponsored Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 after three steady runs to date, including two top 10 finishes to give the husband and wife team a tally of 33 points.

Five points behind is Capetonian Fernando Rueda in his Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 after a season-opening win. Co-driver Dave Lewkowicz joined Rueda for round 2 and is well behind that title race as a result of missing a bagful of points in Natal.

Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich (Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza N12B) has closed up to within a single point off Rueda and will target the championship lead come Saturday afternoon on an event that was extremely cruel to him last year. Godrich is second on the navigator’s points log.

Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman in their Pirtek Subaru Impreza N14, are quickly gaining momentum to add pressure at the top of the points table and will give the fans good value in the Mpumulanga Highveld stages. Du Plessis has the latest Prodrive-built Impreza at his disposal in which to defend his 2007 overall production car championship.

The man of the moment is Paul Pfeiffer and navigator Cindi Harding in their Nobili Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. In spite of running one of the oldest cars in production rallying, Pfeiffer blitzed allcomers on the Sasol Rally after a difficult start to the season that saw him disqualified from the opening two rounds over technical issues.

In the class N4 race, Rueda and Wilken are tied on 15 points, while Godrich has a five-point lead on the N4 co-driver standings ahead of Natasha Vaughan.

Other entertainment in the top production car class comes from Joos/Danie Stassen in their De Goede Finance Subaru Impreza N12 and the Rally Chicks Lola and Megan Verlaque (Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9). Both are well up to speed and should score a bagful of points. Hein Lategan/Johan van der Merwe (Steve’s Auto Clinic Subaru Impreza N12B) will have their second outing under the Subaru banner after demonstrating immediate competitiveness first time out, another team with category and class-winning potential.

Ford Racing has shaken up the pecking order in class N3 where Etienne Lourens/Elvene Coetzee (Ford Fiesta ST) has led twice in the last two events only to fall foul with mechanical issues, leaving the wins to the regular Toyota RunX teams.

Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) have two wins so far and are just one point behind the class leader Kosta Koumantarakis who may yet run in class N3 if they cannot get their A6 RunX in time.

Sasol’s Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak (Toyota RunX) are getting quicker and starting to challenge for their first win after dominating the class N2 title chase last season. Chase Atwell/Dave Milner, the unfortunate Zimbabwean having the dubious record of wrecking three cars in two rallies racked up their first points of the year in their Jonnesway Toyota RunX and will be looking for more in Ermelo.

Martin Steyn and Van Aardt Schoeman (Ford Racing Fiesta ST) continue to learn about the intricacies of rallying and will face off against the Toyota RunX of Amlay Abduraghman/Yusuf Ganief.

The N3 co-drivers battle sees the now retired Barry White ahead of Patrick Vermaak who should take the class lead from the currently 3rd placed Carolyn Swan after the Total.

The Total International Rally starts in Ermelo on Thursday, 29th May at 16h00 and takes in two runs over a purpose-built gravel surfaced SuperSpecial stage on the outskirts of town. Friday features eight special stages around the Panbult area between Ermelo and Piet Retief. Saturday’s action consists of five special stages, including the infamous 60km long Jessievale stage and concludes back in Ermelo where the survivors will tackle the SuperSpecial one last time.