09/07/08 - The second half of the mesmerising Sasol SA Rally Championship gets underway with another closely fought encounter on the cards as the factory BP Ultimate Volkswagen and Castrol Toyota teams vie for honours in the Eastern Cape, backed up by a fleet of privateer entrants capable of taking on and beating the manufacturer big guns.

The stakes are high for Volkswagen: they will compete in their own backyard in front of thousands of expectant loyal customers, employees and management, while Toyota has nothing to lose by going for their first win of the year with the still very capable Castrol-backed RunX, victorious on ‘enemy’ turf six times since 2000.

The year has been a Volkswagen benefit to date with the Uitenhage based team taking four wins from four starts, including three 1-2 finishes to hold first and second places in the driver’s championship standings and the top three placings on the class S2000 championship log.

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries have taken the 2008 championship by the scruff of its neck and enjoy a comfortable 23-point lead after powering their BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo to two wins and two second places so far. A win is worth 25 points so Fekken and Arries, with 92 points banked, almost have a free event when dropped scores come into play later in the year.

Although virtually able to cruise to third place over the next four events and still emerge as champion, Fekken wants to rack up more wins and will give his all with the knowledge that if he is outpaced on any given day, he can afford to back off, not to take unnecessary risks and pick up the points on offer, making the Pretoria engineer the title favourite.

Jan Habig and Douglas Judd, the current rally champions are traditionally very quick in their BP Polo through the Longmore Forest in which the meat of the Volkswagen Rally takes place, so cannot be written off because of a lacklustre opening half season that has yielded just one win back in March. The wily veteran has logged 69 points from the opening four events through consistent finishes, a strategy he successfully applied last year.

Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson, champions in 2006, won on the Sasol Rally in May and have a 2nd place to their credit but two non-finishes have kept them out of the title race so far; they have 42 points, exactly half the tally of Fekken and Arries.

The works Castrol Toyota team is in a transition year, running S2000 novice Mark Cronje as a replacement for the retired Serge Damseaux. Cronje and double co-driver’s champion Robert Paisley have been immensely quick in their Toyota RunX and led a number of rallies this year but a series of ‘learning curves’ has yielded just one podium finish back in April for the Roodepoort driver.

Six tar stages on the VW Rally could play into the former karting champion’s hands so his stage times will be a keen source of interest to his rivals and a maiden win is a realistic goal.

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh, driving the second S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX, go into the final four events with renewed enthusiasm after their season best 2nd place finish on the Total Rally to add to a solid 6th in the Western Cape. Gemmell blends consistency and pace so could be a danger man to the home team.

Toyota has a trio of very capable privateers able and willing to upset the established formbook in the premier S2000 class. Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton hold 3rd in the championship standings, six points clear of 4th placed Jean-Pierre Damseaux, after a steady run of good finishes to date, including a podium finish in KwaZulu Natal in March. The Pretoria property developer is getting quicker on each outing and is a constant thorn in the side of the more fancied runners, so expect the fight for the final step of the podium to be a very crowded one

Nicholas Ryan/Schalk van Heerden (Philips/Jonnesway Toyota RunX) and Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) have also landed on the podium this year.

Damseaux in particular has impressed and led twice before being thwarted by punctures or mechanical problems yet still managed to drag his car home in a top position on each occasion. Ryan, who will debut Philips’ new corporate livery has won stages on merit and spent the six-week mid-season break fine tuning his RunX for a renewed assault on the top step of the podium.

Rounding out the S2000 entry is Jon/Douglas Williams in their Guma Volkswagen Polo. Quick when the car is right, they have slipped from the required pace but should feature in the top results.

Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) are running away with the class A7 championship with three straight wins on the last three outings and enjoy a log lead just more than double their nearest challengers.

The closest challenger to the Natal pair is Polokwane-based Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes in their Salom Group Volkswagen Polo. The VW driver won at the start of the year and has been very quick on each event, but unlucky to score two non-finishes.

Michael Otto/Armand du Toit (Barloworld Toyota Corolla) stunned their rivals with their speed on the Total Rally, leading until slowed by electrical problems and must be considered as a potential class A7 winner. A strong finish could see Otto haul in the two-point gap to Joubert so the fight will be fierce.

Off road champion Evan Hutchinson and co-driver Greg Gericke are getting quicker by the event in their Motorite Toyota RunX and claimed their first stage win on the Total Rally at the end of May, four races into the driver’s new career. The big budget team will close the gap further as the year progresses and put further pressure on the championship hopefuls.

Nico Higgs/Menno Havelaar (HRD Toyota RunX) started the season well but failed to finish the last two rallies and slipped well down the order, but the well-prepared machine is capable of a top three class result, as is Adrian Karth/Rikus Fourie (NetConnect Volkswagen Polo) and Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo).

Zulu in particular was blindingly quick in the Western Cape but has suffered from poor reliability and an accident, leaving him on five points against the 31 of de Wit.

Class A6 has seen a rejuvenated Craig Trott and former driver turned co-driver Tony Ball open up a fairly comfortable gap in their Total Evolution Toyota RunX, claiming two wins, a second and a third to lead the way with 28 points against the 15 of their closest rival Mohammed Moosa.

Moosa and Grant Martin will debut their long awaited Total Evolution Toyota Auris, the first of a brace of Aurises set to appear over the remainder of the year. The new car could be a double-edged sword as it may be far superior to their aging Corolla, (which was still quick enough to win on round 3) but it could also suffer from new car gremlins, which may drop Moosa out of the championship running.

Stevan Wilken/Llewellyn Fourie (Pannar Seeds Volkswagen Polo) are the latest winners in class A6 to close to within two points off Moosa and should go well on VW’s event. Jose de Gouveia/Johan Aucamp (Friendly Grocer Toyota Corolla), Andy Haigh Smith/Jonathan Bright (React Toyota Corolla) and Nico/Gert Nienaber (Powerforce Hydraulics Toyota Corolla) are well matched and should squabble over the last step of the class podium, as will irregular runners Charl Strydom/Sakkie Bosman (Sabre Paints Volkswagen Polo).

A mighty war rages in the smallest modified class – A5 – where the BP Ultimate Volkswagen CitiGolf of Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier has ruled the roost until coming under increased pressure from the Sasol Toyota Yaris of Dave Compton/Paul Leslie. Cleenwerck started the year with a pair of wins, followed by a pair of rolls, which dented the car and gave points to the competition.

Compton, a production car racer turned gravel racer, claimed his maiden win on the Sasol Rally, while Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe (Techwood/Sasol Toyota Tazz) won last time out to snatch second in the title race from Compton. The BP CitiGolf pair has 30 points to Conradie’s 15 and Compton’s 12, but the pressure will be intense between these three teams.

Steve Mearns/Ciaran Nunan (MPC Toyota Tazz) and Piet Bakkes/Tommy du Toit (VW CitiGolf) will be in the mix as well and given reliability could also be in the thick of the action.

Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser debuted their Total Evolution Toyota Yaris on the Total Rally and showed well until new car gremlins stopped them. 15 year-old Ashley Haigh Smith, the youngest competitor in the sport (running under a special dispensation) and co-driver Hilton Auffrey make their national debut in their React Toyota Yaris and the youngster will cut his teeth in the equivalent of a shark tank and do well to come out of battle unscathed and with some points to his name.

Eastern Cape Ford fans will rejoice at the return of the Blue Oval to rallying and cheer to the rafters the progress of Tony Barbosa/Les McKenzie in the Ford Racing Ka, which did well to score points on debut. The intervening events have seen a series off issues keep the tiny Ka from finishing as the development programme knocks the car into shape.

PRODUCTION CARS:

The top N4 production car class plays host to eight of the four-wheel drive turbocharged monsters from Subaru and Mitsubishi with the odds stacked in Subaru’s favour as five of the entries are in the iconic Impreza STi, including the appearance of a brand new Prodrive-built STi for Paul Pfeiffer and Cindi Harding.

Leading the production car title chase by six points is 2008 double winner Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich in their Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza N12B. The multiple motor racing champion is very quick and with one more victory under their belts, should be almost unbeatable over the remainder of the year.

The defending champion driver Visser du Plessis and co-driver Gerhard Snyman have the latest shape Pirtek-supported Subaru Impreza N14 to help them add to their 36 points earned so far. Du Plessis is slowly getting the car sorted to his style and should be a contender for the production car podium’s top step.

He will be joined by Pfeiffer and Harding in an identical Nobili supported Subaru Impreza N14, flown in just before the event starts so the Volkswagen Rally will be spent getting to know his new car. Pfeiffer has been phenomenally quick this year and won the category on the Sasol Rally in his older Mitsubishi Evo 6, so armed with the latest supercar should be a contender for victory.

Richard and Natasha Vaughan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) led the production car championship against all the odds up to the start of round four but a non-finish hurt their title aspirations and they’ve slipped to 3rd on the log. They can be expected to be quick and given a little luck, should do well in the Eastern Cape forests.

Fernando Rueda/Dave Lewkowicz (Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) have failed to finish the last two events but given reliability, can win the category as they did in KwaZulu Natal. Rueda needs a win if he is still to feature in the championship race so fireworks can be expected from the Spanish driver.
Hein Lategan/Johan van der Merwe (SAC Subaru Impreza N12B) joined the Subaru fold for round three and immediately ran at the class winning pace. They led round four convincingly before going off the road in thick dust, so they can be expected to feature in the N4 lead fight.

Lola/Megan Verlaque (Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 and Joos/Danie Stassen (De Goede Finance Subaru Impreza N12) should both feature well in the points chase and end on the podium if the quicker teams hit a problem.

The front wheel drive N3 production car class is a very closely contested affair where privateer Kosta Koumantarakis leads the title race by three points in his Toyota RunX. Former co-driver Barry White has vacated the RunX’s hot-seat due to work commitments, so Lou Zietsman is not in the co-driver’s title running.

Tied in second place is Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak, who traditionally fare well on the VW Rally and they are highly motivated to take the class title lead after claiming their maiden class win last time out.

It won’t be easy, for the highly experienced former champions, Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan, will be breathing down their white-hot exhausts in their Total Evolution Toyota RunX as they too will want to get to the top of the leaderboard.

The Toyota trio will have to watch out for Etienne Lourens and Elvene Coetzee’s Ford Racing Fiesta ST, which has been very quick but fragile to date. Ongoing development will see the Blue Oval back in the winner’s circle sooner rather than later. A second Ford Racing Fiesta ST in the hands of Martin Steyn/Van Aardt Schoeman finished their first rally last month and will be out to add to their three points.

Quick but accident prone, having comprehensively crashed four this year is the young Zimbabwean pair of Chase Attwell/Dave Milner in their Jonnesway Toyota RunX. If the car stays upright, the pair could cause an upset result.

Rounding out the entry is the Cape Town pair of Abduraghman Amlay/Yusuf Ganief in their privateer Toyota RunX.

The two horse class N2 fight should favour husband and wife Riaan/Hester Erasmus in their ABC Motors Toyota Corolla, who have competed in every event, whereas challengers Steve White/Dirk Malan are occasional entrants in their React Mitsubishi Lancer.

The Volkswagen Rally starts from the VW Auto Pavilion in Uitenhage at 11am on Friday and takes in four tarmac stages around Port Elizabeth and the automaker’s hometown, including laps at Scribante racetrack.

The first gravel stage is at the new PE Oval where teams do three laps before heading into the surrounding roads for the balance of the stage. The teams hit Longmore Forest with a 44km stage before the popular Jeffrey’s Bay stage ends Friday’s proceedings, starting at 7pm.

The VW Rally’s Longmore forest section has changed for the first time in a decade due to forest road repairs and will feature four all-new stages, described by Clerk of the Course Joe Fourie as tight and technical in nature. The roads pass through the forest instead of using the service roads between them. The longest stage is 48km in length and spectators have been well catered for in the route planning process.

After leaving the trees, one more run around the PE Oval stage takes teams to the short but wildly popular King’s Beach stage for a grandstand finish and podium ceremony.