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Sasol - the final viewpoint

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Author: Patrick Vermaak

Publishing date: 28.04.2007 04:59

Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak

If Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak were disappointed when their McCarthy N1 GpN2 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 retired within spitting distance of the final stage control on the season opening Toyota Dealer Rally, spare a thought for Etienne Lourens and André Vermeulen who deservedly won the Sasol Rally, only to be penalized ten minutes for a technical infringement on the Team Total Toyota Run X. Being relegated to ninth overall due to factors beyond your control really is a cruel blow. Most would not even want to drive stage eleven in a 4x4 truck and they produced a rally winning stage win which would have left most with a nervous disorder (you simply cannot appreciate the level of concentration and commitment this stage demanded for an average time, never mind setting the fastest time).

Etienne Lourens and Andre Vermeulen - hey what happened?

Our compliments to Johnny Gemmel and Peter Marsh on a stunning challenge in only his second event in S2000, providing the Castrol Toyota team with a second consecutive overall victory. This was undoubtedly not the way they would have liked to achieve this feat, but a win is a win and few doubted that they would succeed.

Johnny Gemmel and Peter Marsh winners of the Sasol Rally

The opposition should be concerned as they have become more than just competitive in virtually no time. Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson clearly benefited from their cautious approach, netting another valuable point scoring result in the BP VW Polo 4x4 – ever heard of all the dogs fighting about the bone?

With Gemmel in S2000 the N4 war reached new levels with Wilken hot favorite after the Cape event, but the Konica / Minolta Subaru repelled itself from the Sasol in spectacular fashion leaving Wilken in a back brace. Finally benefiting from renewed reliability saw Fernando Rueda and Gerhard Snyman heading the category in their Team Total Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 and we can expect a determined effort from the Cape Town based Spaniard for the balance of the season.

A picture by Motorpics.co.za
Fernando Rueda and Gerry Snyman

Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey won stage 12 en route to a well deserved fourth overall in their Team Total S2000 Run X after having lost 4min with a puncture in stage two. The added motivation of finishing ahead of their former Team Total A7 Run X saw the combination really pushing hard. Mark Cronjé and Chris Birkin again proved to be exceptionally quick and consistent and scored a fine fifth place in the Team Castrol class A7 Toyota Run X RSi.

Nicholas Ryan and Schalk van Heerden sixth in the Bosal Gp N4 Subaru (after SS10 was cancelled). Visser du Plessis and Dave Lewkowicz relegated to seventh overall and third in Gp N4 in the Kreepy Krauly / Pirtek Subaru whilst Paul Pfeiffer and Cindi Harding found themselves in eighth spot with the older Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. Combining consistency with raw pace will still see this combination annoy the established regulars at the front of the N4 pack. Ninth place overall must feel like an insult deluxe to Etienne Lourens and André Vermeulen having won the event fair and square in the Team Total Toyota Run X. If nothing else they proved that they have the potential to win overall and one can only expect this combination to attack as never before come the Zulu Rally in May.

Chris de Wit and Patrick Yende

Still not settled in A7, Chris de Wit and Patrick Yende admits to finding the Team Total Toyota Run X RSi a completely different animal from N3 but tenth overall serves as proof of good progress and they should soon be challenging their Castrol opponents. Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries again proved quick with no less than five stage victories credited to them in the BP S2000 VW Polo but losing ten minutes on stage three put them out of contention for overall honours and they had to be content with a frustrating eleventh place. Barry Grobbelaar and Mike Burrows were content with a fine twelfth place in their older Sasol class A7 VW Golf IV after a clean and consistent drive. A well deserved result.

You will rarely find Serge Damseaux and Robert Paisley in thirteenth place but given the level of competition in the Sasol Championship any points are better than no points and having lost more than ten minutes in stage two the Castrol S2000 Run X could do little but more than damage control. Winning only one stage during the event speaks volumes for the mountain ahead as Serge challenges for an eleventh drivers title. Rocky Reynecke and Christo Ackerman quietly slipped into fourteenth spot in their N4 Subaru.

Kosta Koumantarakis and Barry White in their privately run N3 Toyota Run X RSi

With both Mohammed Moosa / Henry Dearlove and Aggie Ströh / George Baker failing to reach the finish it was Michael Houghton and Robin Houghton who won Gp N3 in their Team Total Toyota Run X RSi on only their second outing in the class. Also showing good form was Kosta Koumantarakis and Barry White in their privately run N3 Toyota Run X RSi. They overcame a frustrating misfire on Friday to finish second.

Third in class going to Rodney Visagie and Arno la Grange in the second Team Total Toyota Run X RSi.

The “flying geese”, Jose Ferreira and Jose da Costa eighteenth overall in the fire breathing N4 Subaru, while Lola and Megan Verlaque completed the top twenty in their Gp N4 Subaru. The Rally Chicks’ season in the ARC will also hopefully improve for the balance of the season.

Jose Ferreira and Jose da Costa

Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin dominated class A5 in the BP Chico and now face quite a dilemma as they are due to make their debut in class A7 soon whilst now enjoying a healthy lead in the A5 title chase. Stéven Wilken and Gert Nienaber finally netted a class A6 victory in the Pannar VW Polo. Obviously those seeds are growing properly on both car and hair! Always totally dedicated and bubbling with enthusiasm this team will only benefit from this positive and deserved result. Mike Nathan and Eugene le Roux chased for all their worth but the AWI Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 gradually fell apart and they had to settle for second place. Combining pace with mechanical sympathy could see this combination succeed. Salie du Toit and Gert van Rensburg third with their Team Total Toyota RunX RSi after experiencing their fair share of problems. André Cleenwerck and Mark Irvine were next in the second BP A5 Chico.

Driving to finish proved pretty demanding for Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak in the McCarthy Gp N2 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 with a number of punctures and a broken engine mounting making their event rather frustrating, but simply finishing was pretty motivational. Claudio Piazza-Musso and Greg Gericke survived an onboard fire and seemed quite pleased with the performance of their brand new (and still very much standard) class A5 Toyota Yaris that showed great future potential. In fact, predictions of it becoming as successful as the almost indestructible Conquest, seems realistic given their positive response. Riaan Erasmus and Robbie Coetzee won class S20 in their Toyota Conquest whilst Joos and Danie Stassen suffered badly with a ten-minute penalty in their Gp N4 Subaru.

Lola and Megan Verlaque

Piet Bakkes and Tommy du Toit enjoyed their first outing in the ex-Michael Houghton class A5 Toyota Tazz. Tjaart Conradie and Elvéne Coetzee posted some good times but lost time on others in their class A5 Toyota Tazz to finish with a somewhat disappointing result. If my memory serves me correctly Paul and Anel van Wyk jumped a drum during the final stadium stage in 2005 but fortunately they avoided such activities this time round in their class A5 VW Golf MkI.

Danie Duursema and Derick Beneke next in their mean sounding class S20 Nissan Sentra.

Jean Hendrick and Etienne Malherbe

Jean Hendrick and Etienne Malherbe made a welcome return in their MotorOne Gp N2 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600. Jean missed Round One in the Cape but intends to complete the balance of the season. The A5 Golf entries of Murray Lloyd / Peter Davidson and Baphumze Rubuluza / Ntombi Masilele followed home by the SAHRA Datsun 160U SSS of final finishers Morné van Bosch and Pieter van Zyl.

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