Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh powered their Castrol Toyota Auris S2000 to stunning last stage win on the Sasol Rally which ended in Nelspruit on Saturday afternoon, heading a Castrol 1-3 and a Toyota whitewash of class wins on the third round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship.
Gemmell, winner of the opening round of the championship, was in the hunt all weekend, trading times with team mates Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley in the sister Castrol Toyota Auris as well as attacking rally leaders and defending SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries in their S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo.
After Friday’s six action-packed stages, Gemmell was just 13 seconds off the leading pace with Cronje a single second further back after winning stage four outright. Saturday saw a titanic battle develop between the three leading teams as Gemmell and Cronje traded places by the stage, all the while keeping the pressure on the VW crew.
On Saturday’s opening tarmac stage in front of thousands of spectators lining Nelspruit’s streets, Cronje took second place but it was short-lived for Gemmell struck back in the day’s first gravel stage, winning his first of five stages and re-taking 2nd spot. The two Castrol Auris crews set an identical time in stage 9, with Gemmell again going fastest on stage 10, all the while reeling in the VW pair.
Stage 12 was crucial; Gemmell was nine seconds adrift of Fekken. He put in a storming drive to stop the clocks nine seconds faster than Fekken to tie the lead of the rally with one stage to go! Fekken blasted through the final Spitskop stage eight seconds faster than he did on the first run the previous day.
What could Gemmell do? 13 seconds faster – and the rally lead by 4 seconds with only 320 metres to go through the Nelspruit Showgrounds. Gemmell claimed his second win in spectacular fashion and his broad smile at the stop control said it all!
“It’s a brilliant way to win the rally”, beamed Gemmell at the Nelspruit finish. “We had a leaking power steering pump after stage 12 but that was fixed for the showdown. We also had a spin and stall in stage two and still set a good time only three seconds slower than Hergen, so I knew we had the measure of him. It was a perfect weekend for us”.
Mark Cronje was delighted with his first podium of the year. “The car was brilliant all weekend. We started to push harder on Saturday to see if anything would give at the front, but decided to back off again after making little impression on Johnny and Hergen. It’s a very good foundation for us for the rest of the year”.
Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey brought their S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX home 7th overall, overcoming a misfire and puncture in the late stages of the event.
Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer ended 8th overall in their S2000 RunX having run the entire rally without power steering.
Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen had intermittent starting problems, later traced to a faulty fuel pump relay and withdrew before Saturday’s stages.
Schalk Burger Junior and Armand du Toit, the current Northern Regions Rally Champions, headed a Toyota class A7 one-two in their Spike Energy Drink Toyota Corolla, well ahead of the Motorite Toyota RunX of Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee.
Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin dominated the class A6 field in their Team Total Toyota Auris, ending nearly 2½ minutes ahead of Team Total’s Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan and Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee, both driving Toyota RunXs, who were separated by nine seconds. Moosa took the class A6 championship lead following the A6 Auris’ second consecutive win from three outings.
Vusi Mabanga and Shaun Visser came of age and gave Toyota the class A5 win, taking their Team Total Toyota Yaris to their career-best result after a brilliant drive in testing stages. The Sasol Toyota Yaris was less fortunate, ending upside down 125 metres off the road in stage two after rolling four times down a mountain but without any injury to Riyad Jaffer/Henry Dearlove, testament to the inherent strength of the Toyota Yaris.
Dave Compton and Pierre Jordaan drove their Sasol Toyota RunX to an unopposed class N3 win, their third consecutive visit to the top step of the class podium.
Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris) were going well until overshooting a corner in stage 12 and beached the car.
The 4th round of the Sasol Rally Championship is the SCC Pretoria Rally in Ermelo on 12 and 13 June.
