The Castrol Toyota Auris made its rally debut in class S2000 on the Osram Rally and stunned onlookers with its immediate rally-leading pace. The Castrol Toyota team dominated the 6th round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship until the final stage, when lady luck stepped in to thwart the Castrol squad.
Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh, in their last appearance in the S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX went into an immediate lead of the 211km rally and held it to end the first day’s action around Barkly East with a slender 1 second lead – from team mates Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley! Cronje racked up two stage wins, which augers well for the Auris straight out of the box.
On a wind swept and bitterly cold Saturday, Gemmell suffered a freak incident when a stone broke a brake caliper in stage 6 while holding a nine second lead. The time lost dropped Gemmell back to third and allowed the Castrol Auris to lead by a healthy 17 seconds with three stages remaining.
With no service between stages six and seven, Gemmell lost more time and dropped to 5th overall, while Cronje added a second to his leading margin with two stages remaining.
Cronje’s dream debut in the Castrol Auris ended in stage 8. “We misread a note, or mis-interpreted it”, said Cronje. “I had the car straightened up for a blind crest and on the other side of the crest the road went left. We barreled off the road and ripped the wheels off on a pile of rocks”.
“The Toyota Auris is fantastic to drive; we could have and should have won this one. I am very comfortable with the car. It’s already at the RunX level straight out of the box and there’s so much more to come. It’s going to take Toyota to the next level”, said the winner of last month’s VW Rally.
Gemmell blasted the Castrol RunX to another stage win and back into a three second lead in the penultimate 8th stage but by the final muddy stage, he couldn’t quite push as hard as he wanted. “Running 8th on the road, it was quite churned up already and very slippery. We were so close” reflected Gemmell.
Gemmell tied with Enzo Kuun’s VW Polo but claimed second place points with three stage wins to Kuun’s two.
Wammy Haddad, Toyota’s Motorsport Manager said: “It’s not a bad start. The Auris went much better than I expected. It was perfect all weekend. There were no new car issues, which is very encouraging. That the car runs out of the box at the same pace as the RunX after five year’s of constant development gives us a solid foundation to build on – now it’s time to start fine-tuning it”.
“Mark’s accident was unfortunate but I’m not cross with him – he was driving well and trying hard. Johnny drove an excellent rally”, Haddad added. “The A6 Auris had some typical new car problems, but it’s shown tremendous potential”.
Toyota claimed a 6th stage win courtesy of Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey in their S2000 Total Evolution Toyota RunX. The pair drove superbly to finish 4th after a trouble free event, while Nicholas Ryan/Andre Vermeulen brought their Philips/Jonnesway Toyota RunX home tenth overall after a trying event.
Toyota’s first champion of 2008 is Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys who once again won class A7 in their Total Evolution Toyota RunX, with Michael Otto/Armand du Toit the only other finisher in their Barloworld Toyota Corolla.
Craig Trott/Tony Ball (A6 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) moved to within two points of taking the class A6 title with a solid drive, finishing ahead of the Total Evolution Toyota Auris of Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin.
The Total Evolution Toyota Auris suffered from typical new car gremlins but Moosa soldiered on to learn about his and Toyota’s new rally challenger.
Dave Compton/Derek Jacobs won class A5 in the Sasol Toyota Yaris after a rally long fight with the Toyota Tazz of Tjaart Conradie/Tiaan Rabe, while Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) further tightened their grip on the N3 title with a second in class.
Riaan/Hester Erasmus (ABC Motors Toyota Corolla) took class N2 honours
