FIRST FOR FORD IN A LONG, LONG TIME!
author: Leon Botha
No one can blame you for thinking I was crazy standing at the end of stage two of the Toyota Dealer Rally predicting a win for the brand new Ford Fiesta S2000 driven by Conrad Rautenbach and navigated by Peter Marsh.
TV interviewer Waldo, who normally listens to my humble and sometimes not so humble opinions, looked my up and down shaking his head slightly while wiping a tear from his cheek!
How the hell could you predict a win for a car that has just completed the first stage seventh quickest almost 10 seconds slower that the winner and the second stage fourth fastest also well off the mark?
Then the third stage came – again only fourth and in the fifth stage 7th again! I stuck to my guns – no matter how they chirped. I knew the signs were there!
But lets not get carried away. After stage One it was clear that the man to beat would be Hergen Fekken while most those who knew Habig had no doubt that this has always been one of the rallies where he did not suffer from deflated body parts. He almost always did well on this event and last year when he finished second was no exception.
Mark Cronje opened with a third overall fastest and the only thing that did not make him pop right up in my mind was the fact that I wrongly believed that the Polos were quicker than the Auris’ – or did they merely look quicker?
As I said earlier in the previous article – Enzo had the task to sweep the roads on day one and I did not have much hope for him to lead at the end of day one. No matter how well you prepared your Notes and how you argued the corners – any sane person would still doubt some calls here and there when there were no tracks leading you into a corner and you had to do the pioneer discovery work!
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Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson - 2nd overall after a great fight.
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The positions after stage One were therefore no real surprise although the Ford did not send out any warning signs as Conrad got settled in behind the steering on the wrong side of the car.
In stage two we all got a bit of a surprise when Gemmel let fly with a demonstration of driving skills combined with enough speed to convince us that the “slowness” of the Toyota was merely an illusion.
Unfortunately Hergen picked up a puncture in this stage and lost 32 seconds to the winning Gemmell! Game set and match against Fekken in modern rally terms as he dropped back to 8th overall?
You blink twice per stage in this era of purpose built cars and you find yourself sitting between the spectators watching the world go by?
Habig was lucky as he also got a flat but near the end and he managed 2nd fastest time with Cronje hot on his heals.
Rautenbach was fourth quickest but when I realised that he was only 0.3s slower than Cronje – a light went on. This was still early in the event and the top crews were intent on getting some sort of advantage over the competition – so no one was holding back, while in his case he hardly got the seat of the car warm yet and he ran a brand new engine that was fitted in a hurry before the rally!
I would have like to have been part of the organising when he blew his engine on Wednesday and a new one had to be brought in – in a bit of a hurry!
I am sure all these engines are factory tested but still a new engine is not a run-in unit and certainly one needed to be sure of the fact that it would not do the same as its cousin that came out a day before?
Both Japie van Niekerk lost more than enough time to last them for the rest of the year in stage two and their rally was run for all practical purposes.
Gemmell came out again firing on all possible cylinders in SS3 again posting fastest time – something that did not bother me as he is one of my favourite drivers and a win to him and Drew would have suited me fine, but the Ford stayed in my mind as Rautenbach moved past Enzo Kuun into fourth overall spot.
After SS3 Lategan was in 6th spot behind Kuun and the signs were there that his consistent fast driving was going to become a serious factor this year. He will probably be the leader of the “second batch” more often than the rest would like to see?
Not much changed in Stage Four except Kuun regaining his previous fourth spot when Rautenbach did not have a career best stage. The difference between Gemmell and Habig went down to less than half second and all eyes focussed on what would happen to the lead going into day two?
It was then also no surprise when the two leaders level pecked after stage 5 and Habig taking a 0.4s lead going into day two.
Gemmell was happy – at least Habig would clear the way for him – or would he?
Cronje was third on a 7.8s deficit while Kuun carried a 14.4s baggage. My earlier prediction looked a bit pear shaped as Rautenbach trailed by 23.7s
Lategan was 6th and Hergen was 48.9 seconds off the mark in eight position.
Hutchison led the second batch starting with a full minute more driving time than the ninth placed JP Damseaux.
Stage Seven was chaos! Habig dropped out, JP rolled, and a number of drivers had close shaves when they overshot a section where the stage actually split away in tow directions. This again proved that the job of the zero cars is to spot dangerous places like these as they are the last cars to pass through before the competitors come into the stage.
Kuun and Fekken apparently had the closest of close shaves when they met form different directions in fifth gear! I don’t even want to think about the consequences if they hit each other!
The rhythm of the rally was now upset and Gemmell took the lead by 21.3 seconds over Cronje in second spot.
Kuun moved up into third spot despite the overshoot while Rautenbach now occupied fourth and Fekken fifth.
Just as Glyn Hall wanted to breath a bit more relaxed with his two cars lying in perfect position a slow looking Gemmell came out of the stage with a right front wheel lacking 98% of its rubber. His time of 7m45.5s did not spell any good for the Toyota team as it was over a minute slower than the first crossing through the same stage on day one.
Then came Enzo and a mistake on the time boards showed his time as 7m36.2s – then suddenly the mistake was noticed and his time changed to 6m36.2. New leader?
Well not in my book. Rautenbach blitzed through the stage in 6m31.1 and took the lead. Cronje did a good time through the stage but he would pick up a penalty of 1m50 for being late at service due to a drive shaft that broke as he completed stage 8.
The Toyota dream went up in smoke!
The leader board for the Toyota Dealer Rally looked like a practical joke! Ford, Volkswagen, Volkswagen, Toyota, Toyota, Toyota, Toyota, Volkswagen or in Afrikaans: Rautenbach, Kuun, Fekken, Gemmell, Lategan, Cronjke, Rueda, Joubert!
Enzo immediately retaliated and posted a stage winning, rally leading time of 8m34.0 beating Rautenbach by a handsome 6.4 seconds to the post!
Fekken was still in third spot while Lategan moved into fourth and Gemmell and Cronje made up the next two spots.
Two stages to go. What would happen?
We all expected a typical Kuun onslaught!
His time of 09m53.7s looked like a good time after Johnny posted a 09m56.8? Rautenbach’s 09m43.3 however jerked everybody to attention. He changed a deficit of just over 3 seconds to a lead of 7.2 if the sms we got were correct.
So, everything was now riding on the last stage of the rally – a rally that is renowned for its last stage decisions in the past! Hergen did howver shed a bit of light on the matter for Volkswagen when he won the second last stage by one second from Rautenbach. So- at least there was still hope for the future.
Kuun drove like a champion throwing all he had at the Ford, but Rautenbach seemed to sit back a bit and drive the Ford just hard enough to stay 4.8s ahead of the charging Kuun. The latter must have regretted the overshoot on stage 7 and the few small mishaps on the rally – but then again, that is what this sport is all about.
My feeling is that it will become even more difficult to win as the events tick by this year. There is still the possibility of another Ford coming back plus a lot will probably still be done to the Volkswagens as well as the Toyotas now that they have been shaken right out of their comfort zones?
It is a pity Habig did not complete this one and the flat wheel Gemmell had also spoiled things slightly.
The final results for the rally were:
Rautenbach, 2.Kuun+4.8; 3.Fekken+21.1; 4.Gemmell+63.6; 5.Lategan+91.9; 6. Cronje+206.8; 7. Joubert +252.5; 8. Hutchison+253.8 and van 9th Dyk 331.3
Etienne du Toit drove a great rally to win A7 and finish in 11th spot, while Poulter did as well as we predicted winning A6 and finishing just behind du Toit.
Amlay won N3 while Ashley Haigh-Smith showed his talent by winning A5 in fine style.
The complete stage and overall analysis will follow on Monday with some more news on what happened during this dramatic event.
More pictures when they become available.
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