There was a touch of poetic justice about Team Castrol Toyota RunX crew Serge Damseaux and Robert Paisley winning the Total Rally South Africa, round two of the Sasol Dual Fuel South African Rally Championship, which ended in Badplaas on Saturday (12 April) –
– The event again produced a sting in the tail, but this time around it was multiple South African champion Damseaux who ended up wreathed in smiles after winning an intriguing rally that is also round one of the FIA Africa Rally Championship. Last year Damseaux and navigator Guy Hodgson were robbed of victory with mechanical failure in the final special stage, and the win was sweet revenge for Damseaux. –
– Damseaux and Paisley finished 39 seconds ahead of the factory Sasol DualFuel Volkswagen Golf of Enzo Kuun and Hodgson, with the final two special stages producing plenty of drama. Third were Etienne Lourens and Andre Vermeulen, in the Team Total Toyota Corolla, with the pair finishing on the podium after late problems for reigning South African champions Jan Habig and Douglas Judd and Fernando Rueda and Martin Botha. –
– This time around it was Habig and Judd, lying third at the time in the second works Sasol DualFuel Volkswagen Golf, who succumbed in the final stage with a broken camshaft pulley. A puncture in the penultimate special stage cost Rueda and Botha (Motion Vehicle Sales Mitsubishi Evo) three minutes, but they salvaged fourth place when Habig and Judd fell out, and there was also consolation for the Mitsubishi pair in that they were the first of the FIA Africa Rally Championship classified cars to finish. –
– Not that the drama at the front of the field was restricted to late in the rally. When the event restarted in Badplaas this morning, there were immediate problems for Johnny Gemmell and Greg Godrich, in the L&J Plant Hire Subaru, who led by 26 seconds at the final overnight halt. –
– On the way to the first stage of the day the Subaru picked up a turbo problem that was to sideline Gemmell and Godrich for the day. Damseaux and Paisley suddenly found themselves in a lead they were never to lose – although a fuel pressure problem over the last special stage and the 80 kilometre open stage to the final control in Badplaas, gave Damseaux and the Team Castrol Toyota squad a little cause for concern. –
– Kuun and Hodgson gamely kept up the chase on the Team Castrol Toyota, but it was a losing battle. Habig/Judd, Lourens/Vermeulen and Rueda/Botha were involved in an interesting battle for third fourth and fifth, which was finally decided by the goings on in the final two stages. –
– Other late casualties among those looking for top five spots were Schalk Burger and Vito Bonafede in the Bridgestone/Sasol-backed Subaru. They ran out of brakes on the penultimate special stage, and that put paid to their weekend. –
– The final top five placing went to Hergen Fekken and Dave Lewkowicz, in a Sasol DualFuel Volkswagen Polo Playa, who battled along gamely. They had to play second fiddle in Class A7 to Lourens/Vermeulen, but held at bay a gaggle of four wheel drive Class N4 Subarus. –
– There was a surprise in Class A6 where Capetonians Andy Haigh-Smith and Gerald Brace, in a Toyota Corolla RSi, took advantage of the demise of more fancied crews to take the class win. Reigning Class A5 champions, Rodney Visagie and Carolyn Swan in the Team Total Toyota Tazz, came from behind to win Class A5 by just 17 seconds from Sasol DualFuel Citi Golf crew Nkosinathi Nzimande and Fanie Meyiwa, and this gave Toyota clean sweep of the Group A categories. –
– Class N4 went to Rueda and Botha with former track star Charl Wilken and former off-road champion Robin Houghton taking Class N3 in the factory Team Castrol Toyota RunX. KwaZulu-Natalians Chris de Wit and Janine Labuschagne, in a Toyota Corolla, also produced a late charge to win Class N2 ahead of Zimbabweans Jess Watson and Dave Milner in a similar car. –
– Class N1 was dominated by Bryan and Keith Heine in a VW City Golf. They were around 10 minutes ahead of the next car, a Toyota Tazz crewed by Hilton Belitzsky and Ryan-Mark Cheyne. –
– At the end of the day there were broad smiles in the Toyota camp. Honour had been restored after Damseaux’s debacle last year, and six out of eight class wins represented a fair weekend’s work. –
– Overall Results – Top Ten-
– Pos Driver/Navigator Car Class –
– Total 1. 1. Serge Damseaux/Robert Paisley Toyota RunX RSi A8 03:19:41-
– 2. 2. Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson Volkswagen Golf A8 03:20:20-
– 3. 3. Etienne Lourens/Andre Vermeulen Toyota Corolla Rx A7 03:21:36-
– 4. 4. Fernando Rueda/Martin Botha Mitsubishi Lancer Evo N4 03:23:31-
– 5. 5. Hergen Fekken/Dave Lewkowica Volkswagen Polo Playa A7 03:26:08-
– 6. 6. Nicholas Ryan/Brian Carrihill Subaru Impreza N4 03:31:09-
– 7. 7. Visser Du Plessis/Thilo Von Westerhagen Subaru Impreza N4 03:37:10-
– 8. 8. Leon Botha/Richard Clark Subaru Impreza N4 03:37:57-
– 9. 9. Rocky Reyneke/Andre Pheiffer Subaru Impreza N4 03:41:54-
– 10. 10. Marius Swart/Jan Sime Subaru Impreza N4 03:43:24-
– For full results and stage times plus TV broadcast times of the Total Rally South Africa visit: www.sasolrallyscene.co.za. –
– Round 3 of the Sasol DualFuel Rally Championship is the Toyota Dealers Cape Rally on 30/31 May.
