Defending SA rally champions, Mark Cronje and co-driver Robin Houghton, took control on day two of the Volkswagen Rally to claim their second successive victory in the National Rally Championship.
Cronje and Houghton, champions in 2012 and 2013, drove their Ford Fiesta S2000 to victory in five of the day’s eight stages, finishing the vent 90 seconds clear of Leeroy Poulter/Elvené Coetzee.
“What a day!” exclaimed Cronje. “We led from the front, winning the opening stage, finishing second by a fraction of a second on the next one and then won stages 10 to 14 on the trot – it would’ve been nice to win the final stage of the event too, but it didn’t really matter by then!
The win catapulted Cronje/Houghton up to fourth in the championship with four of the eight events completed.
“The Dealer Team Ford Fiesta has been absolutely flawless all event, and I think Robin and I backed that up with strong performances from both sides of the car,” Cronje continued. “We really have got our mojo back and we’re already thinking about a hat-trick – we won the Ford Dealer Rally last year and we would love to do it again on what is essentially our ‘home’ rally.”
The Volkswagen Sasolracing team finished third in their “home” race, with the Polo S2000 of Hans Weijs/Bjorn Degandt rounding out the podium.
With the podium finish Volkswagen also received the Manufacturer’s Award for the most points scored, while Weijs/Degandt and Henk Lategan/Barry White received the Team Award for the rally as well.
“The Longmore Forest stages were just as good as I expected,” says Weijs. “We are doing well in the championship and our goal now is not just to finish on the podium, now we want to win.”
The next round of the National Rally Championship takes place at Cullinan on August 15/16.
– Charlen Raymond
