The three-car Castrol Toyota team heads into the Osram Rally leading the overall and class S2000 championships, while the class A7 title already locked away firmly out of their rival’s reach.
Serge Damseaux and Robert Paisley, the only multiple rally winners in the 2007 Sasol SA Rally Championship to date, have a ten point lead at the head of the overall championship standings, and the Castrol Toyota RunX RSi pair are gunning for a third.
Toyota, chasing their 16th Manufacturer’s Championship – a record – has a handy but by no means comfortable 379 point advantage over rivals Volkswagen and would dearly like to extend that margin in the year that Toyota celebrates 50 years of worldwide motorsport participation.
“We need another good result on the Osram Rally”, said the 73 times rally winner and ten times driver’s champion from his Somerset West base. “This is one of the closest seasons in memory and requires 110% effort over the whole rally, especially as it is such a short event. The stages are quite long and there is simply no room for error. It’s maximum attack all the way”.
Serge continued: “The Super 2000 class is the best we’ve had in South Africa, and it’s getting closer. On the last two rallies, one or other of the top three places have been tied on times on the first day and positions change in the final 1200 metres – it’s really exciting and very challenging”.
“In the days of the ‘Border’ Mountain Trial, we had a very good record of wins but since moving to Dewetsdorp, it has been less kind to the Castrol Toyota team. I would like to add my name to the roll of honour, but make no mistake; it’s not going to be easy. I’m glad the organizers have brought the rally to the spectators in Bloemfontein. Hopefully, they’ll like what they see and make the trip out to the country to watch the drama unfold”, Serge concluded.
The second Castrol Toyota RunX RSi driven by Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh will be out to score points towards Toyota’s manufacturer’s championship and put as much distance between Serge and the trio of VW Polos as possible.
“The plan is to help Serge take as many points away as possible, so we plan on spoiling the VW party by putting ourselves between him and the rest of the field. The rally itself is neither a very technically demanding event nor a car breaker, as the roads are quite smooth. Many of the stages are really fast with long straights between the farms”, said Johnny.
In only his second rally as a factory Castrol Toyota driver, Johnny and Peter won the Sasol Rally but have endured a run of bad luck that has effectively knocked them out of the championship reckoning.
“It’s a team game now”, added Johnny. “Toyota need as many points as possible for the manufacturer’s title and we’ll do all we can to help the team and Serge. Some of the roads are quite narrow so you need to keep it in the middle”.
For newly crowned class A7 champions Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin, it’s a straightforward game plan. “Flat out”, says Mark. “We are going to have fun without any of the championship pressures. We do recognize the need to bring the car home in one piece for the team to take away as many points as we can so that will be our main aim. Our class A6 car last year wasn’t quick enough for the long fast bits. The A7 Castrol RunX is a far superior car so it’s going to be interesting to see what we can do with it.”
“We’re definitely going to enjoy the rally – more so than usual”. The Castrol Toyota RunX RSi has racked up five consecutive class wins in class A7, the premier two-wheel drive class in rallying.
Backing up the Castrol Toyota squad is the ten-car team of Team Total-backed Toyotas, headed by Etienne Lourens/Andre Vermeulen in their S2000 RunX RSi. The Pretoria businessman won on the road earlier this year so has the pace to mix it at the sharp end of the field. Lourens needs lady luck on board in the Free State to add further pressure to the VW squad.
Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX RSi) are enjoying their first season in rallying’s top class and have scored a series of solid results until JP blotted his copybook on the Total Rally. The younger Damseaux is a quick, smooth and consistent performer and will add further thrust to the Toyota attack.
Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys (Team Total Toyota RunX RSi) return to the class A7 skirmish after missing the last round, eager to show their true form. De Wit is a multiple class N3 champion with the late Patrick Yende but has yet to shine in his latest machinery.
Class A6 sees a trio of Team Total entries vying for honours. Former champion Craig Trott and co-driver Carolyn Swan lead the championship chase in their Team Total Toyota RunX RS by a healthy 14 points from their nearest rival. Their RunX is the 2006 class A6 championship-winning car driven by Cronje and Birkin.
Fast catching up is Salie du Toit and Gert van Rensburg in their Total RunX RS. The young Bethal driver is new to the class this year and is developing his own car but earned his first class win for Toyota in June.
Battling to maintain the pace of the newer Toyota RunXs is the 16-year-old Team Total Toyota Conquest driven by Eugene Lourens/Derek Jacobs, having their worst season to date with just a single finish to their names.
Class N3, the top two-wheel driven production car class, features another Team Total Toyota RunX RSi trio. This intense rivalry is led by Rodney Visagie/Arno Lagrange in their RunX with four great results and a single non-finish. They are a single point ahead of the N3 season long leader Michael Houghton/Hennie Botes, who dropped out of the last round.
Mohammed Moosa and Henry Dearlove (Team Total Toyota RunX RSi) have two class wins to their credit; those wins bookend a series of devastating non-finishes, leaving the Tzaneen driver seven points adrift, but with 27 still available, is well in the championship running.
Rounding out the Team Total entry is Vusi Mabanga/Danie Strydom in their class A5 Team Total Toyota Tazz. The driver is having a fair season which has seen him claim his best result to ate, 2nd in class on the tough Zulu Rally South Africa.
Toyota’s future class A5 rally weapon, the Toyota Yaris is undergoing its development year in the hands of Claudio Piazza Musso/Greg Gericke. With backing from Sasol, the bright blue and yellow Yaris started winning stages from its very first event and continues to get quicker on each outing. As the Race-Prep team gets to grips with the exciting newcomer, speed is increasing by the rally, but each event brings with it a hard lesson for future development purposes. The Sasol Toyota Yaris started with two points scoring finishes but has three non-finishes as testimony to the tough learning curve.
Toyota has already bagged the class N2 championship courtesy of Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak and their venerable McCarthy Toyota Corolla. Although faced with only intermittent competition, Du Toit has seen off all challengers this year and boasts of four straight class wins.
As ever, Toyota, the most popular car in rallying, sees a host of privateer entries competing across most of the classes, adding further impetus to Toyota’s dominant role in the sport.
The Osram Rally starts from the Windmill Casino in Bloemfontein at 15h00 on Friday, 17 August before heading to two new stages at the Bloemfontein Showgrounds, where fans can sit on the stands and watch two stages without moving.
Saturday’s action starts at 07h00 and takes the field straight to Dewetsdorp for a further eight high-speed stages before returning to Bloemfontein late afternoon.
