Western Cape motorsport fans are in for a treat when the Sasol South African Rally Championship decamps in Somerset West with incredible in-your-face action from the word go. Ultra-tight action in all six classes is the order of the day, none more so than in the premier S2000 class where the factory Toyota and Volkswagen teams go head-to-head for outright victory.

Three different leaders in the opening round in Natal in early March augers well for the second round of the series as the teams hit the high-speed stages around Caledon, which plays host to the country’s top gravel racers. Never has rallying’s top class featured nine fully competitive cars and an amazing no-holds barred battle can be expected.

This event marks the introduction of 98-octane fuel across the board as motorsport strives to reduce emissions with cleaner burning fuel.

Heading the entry is the defending championship pairing of Jan Habig/Douglas Judd in their S2000 BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo who got their title defence off to the best possible start in KZN, claiming a somewhat lucky but very welcome win after seeing off their team mates Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson in identical BP Polos.

Fekken has demonstrated his speed last year and this and can be expected to put aside his disappointment of a late mechanical problem that cost him certain victory in Natal. Equally determined is the Kuun/Hodgson pairing, winless since the 2006 Zulu Rally.

The Castrol Toyota squad, without stalwart Serge Damseaux for the first time since 1981 are pinning their hopes firmly on Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh and the proven rally-winning Castrol Toyota RunX ably backed up by coming man Mark Cronje and double co-driver’s champion Robert Paisley.

The Toyota Dealer Rally marks the start of Cronje’s third season in rallying. Cronje topped the timesheets after Natal’s day one action, his first dry event in a S2000 car. His objective is to capitalize on his and the RunX’s obvious speed as he aims to add a third rally title to his CV.

Gemmell and Marsh had a scrappy start to their season, and with the hopes of South Africa’s top-selling car brand resting on his shoulders, should rise to the challenge and push his Castrol RunX to the limit and beyond.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey (S2000 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) will uphold the family name and based on their first 2008 performance, are up to the task, holding 2nd overall on day 1 of the Tour Natal. On roads more familiar to them, an upset result is not unreasonable.

Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton already have a regional rally win and national podium on their scorecard after two events in S2000 and in spite being out of action for nearly 18 months, the Pretoria property developer and his Castrol-liveried Toyota RunX cannot be discounted from the equation.

Nicholas Ryan/Schalk van Heerden, 2006 production car champions, have joined the S2000 fray with a Philips/Jonnesway supported Toyota RunX and will also be in the podium mix after a good showing in the opening event.

Another podium challenger familiar with the territory is Jon and Douglas Williams and their Guma Volkswagen Polo, a firm favourite amongst the Cape rally fans and top scorer if reliability issues are sorted out.

Class A7 competitors need to raise their game considerably if they are to retain the mantle of the top two-wheel drive class. Mechanical mayhem reduced the leading A7 runners to the role of walking wounded, leaving Polokwane-based Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes as the fastest of the stragglers, beaten by an N3 car and a brace of A6 machinery in Natal.

With a healthy car, Joubert’s Salom Plant Hire Volkswagen Polo has been very quick as it needs to be to fend off Adrian Karth/AN other (NetConnect VW Polo) and the factory BP Ultimate VW Polo driven by Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin.

Not to be outdone, Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) will be gunning for a morale-boosting win, while newcomer to the sport, Evan Hutchinson/Greg Gericke (Motorite Toyota RunX) will be aiming for more miles under their belts. Hutchinson is the current Special Vehicle off road champion, while his RunX is the ex-Cronje championship-winning machine, so the material is there to perform at the highest level.

Michael Otto/Sipho Mhlanga (Barloworld Toyota Corolla) gave an excellent account of themselves in their first national event, as did Nico Higgs/Menno Havelaar in their A7 HRD Toyota RunX, 2nd and 4th in class respectively last month. Mike Nathan/AN Other will join them in the ex-Kuun AWI Volkswagen Polo, another new car for the 2006 N2 rally champion.

Class A6 is a Toyota dominated arena with just Stevan Wilken/Llewellyn Fourie in the Pannar Seeds VW Polo to upset the applecart, something he failed to achieve in round 1, where title holder Craig Trott/Tony Ball (Total Ultimate Toyota RunX) got their campaign off to a great start.

Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Total Ultimate Toyota) should have their new Toyota Auris for this event but if the car is still not ready, they will rely on their trusted and reliable Corolla, still capable of delivering a podium position.

Another potential class A6 winner is Salie/Armand du Toit in another Total Ultimate Toyota RunX, while veteran Andy high Smith/AN Other (React Toyota Corolla) is capable of an upset podium on roads he knows and loves. Capetonians Charl Strydom/Sakkie Bosman (Sabre Paints VW Polo) may make their season debut on home ground.

Jose de Gouveia/Johan Aucamp (Hi Speed Spares Toyota Corolla) and Nico/Gert Nienaber (Toyota Corolla) make their Cape debut and will be watched with interest to see how they cope with the high-speed nature of the stages.

Class A5 will feature Dave Compton/Paul Leslie in the Sasol Toyota Yaris, the Race-Prep Team opting to go rallying rather than compete in the clashing Killarney event. Compton, a talented circuit racer, is short on mileage and will be gunning for a finish this time out, while his main rivals, Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier (BP Ultimate Volkswagen CitiGolf) should start as class winning favourites.

An exciting newcomer to class A5 is the Ford Racing Ka of Tony Barbosa/Les McKenzie, short on development but big on ambition. This is part of the official Ford supported team making their comeback to rallying.

The BP Chico crew will be chased hard by Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe (Techwood/Sasol Toyota Tazz) and Piet Bakkes/Tommy du Toit, who may make the switch from Tazz to CitiGolf in time for this event. They should be joined in battle by Steve Mearns/Ciaran Nunan (MPC Toyota Tazz) and Shane Williams/Jonathan Bright (Guma VW Chico), both youngsters able to spring a surprise.

Vusi Mabanga will soldier on in his Team Total Toyota Tazz while waiting for a new Yaris, joined by Shaun Visser on the notes. Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey are expected to debut their new React Toyota Yaris under special dispensation from MSA for the 15-year-old driver.

PRODUCTION CARS:

The production car category is as exciting as the main battle for overall victory, with the four-wheel drive supercars in class N4 and the thrust of Ford’s interim year to be found in the ‘lesser’ ranks of near-standard machinery.

Gunning for overall production car and class N4 honours is local hero Fernando and new co-driver Dave Lewkowicz in the Total Evolution Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, victorious last time out in spite of ‘in-car’ problems that led to former navigator Gert van Rensburg leaving the team.

By far the quickest N4 production car runner is the Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza N12B of Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich, winners on their debut on this event last year. They were minutes ahead of their rivals in Natal until going off the road early on Saturday morning. Wilken is easily capable of mixing it with the middle order S2000 machinery, so nothing less than a win will suffice for this highly motivated team.

An unknown quantity is the latest Prodrive-built Pirtek Subaru Impreza N14 crewed by the defending production car champion Visser du Plessis and co-driver Gerhard Snyman. The multi-million rand motorcar was beset by an engine misfire that prevented Du Plessis from running a single kilometre in anger and fans of the iconic marque eagerly anticipate the spectacular new Subaru.

Paul Pfeiffer/Cindi Harding (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) gave an excellent performance in KZN, closely followed by Richard/Natasha Vaughan in a similar Evo 6, both ending on the production car podium. Pfeiffer won his class and ended 3rd overall in the Cape a couple of years ago but was disqualified in Natal for running non-homologated shock absorbers.

Although ineligible to score points, the SAC Diesel/Dastek Volkswagen Golf Tdi 4Motion is an incredible rally weapon, embarrassing many faster cars in the hands of former touring car driver Hein Lategan/Johan van der Merwe. A top five finish is a reality for this most standard of standard cars.

Lola and Megan Verlaque (Total Evolution Subaru Impreza N10) are aiming for a top 10 finish but will have to fend of the Subaru Impreza N12 of Nelspruit brothers Joos/Danie Stassen, making their first trip to the Cape. Rounding out the four-wheel drive, turbocharged class is the local pairing of John Peiser/Brian Hoskins (Speed Cycling Components Subaru Impreza WRX).

Ford stole the headlines in Natal with their return to rallying with a pair of class N3 Ford Racing Fiesta STs, driven by Etienne Lourens/Elvene Coetzee and Martin Steyn/Van Aardt Schoeman, although both were out by stage two.

This left Toyota to resume normal service in the class with a spectacular 7th overall for Kosta Koumantarakis/Barry White (N3 RunX), but local knowledge should propel Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak up the order in their Sasol Toyota RunX. Du Toit is the reigning class N2 rally champion and has shown an excellent turn of speed in lower classes.

Not to be discounted is the former class N3 championship pairing of Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan in their Total Evolution Toyota RunX, ever consistent, and a newcomer to driving duties, Duncan English/Rob Williams in the ex-Michael Houghton Toyota RunX.

Rounding out the entry is Riaan/Hester Erasmus (N2 Toyota Corolla) and Steve White/AN Other (Mitsubishi Lancer).

See www.rallyworld.net for more