To say that the Sabat rally team has had an awful year would perhaps be an understatement of note, but Michele Lupini, Garry Kingsley-Wilkins and the Sabat Tazz are still upbeat about their chances in the Volkswagen Rally in Port Elizabeth on 18 and 19 July. –
– "Two years ago at this time, we were wondering how long our run of good luck was going to last," driver Lupini pondered as he recalled the days when the team swept to a dominant Media Rally Challenge win after a five-rally winning streak. "This year the season’s in it’s second half and we haven’t even scored a point in the same car…"-
– "But that’s rallying," Lupini concludes, "to finish first we first need to finish and a finish in PE will be heaven sent…" The Sabat squad has spent an unusually quiet month since the Sasol Rally it did not start after an engine failure, repairing and preparing the Sabat Tazz and it’s looking forward to the chance of finally finishing a rally at last in 2003…-
– But it could be the Sabat Tazz’ swansong as the crew is finalizing negotiations to switch to a new car for the remainder of the season. "We hope to have something new for the Mountain Trial in August," navigator Kingsley Wilkins confirmed. "So it would be quite fitting to end our long relationship with old faithful with a good finish…"-
– Competing in Class A5, Sabat’s men have to deal with the currently dominant Gugu Zulu and Dave McGregor’s Sasol CitiGolf, the similar cars of Nkhosinathi Nzimandli/FaniFani Meyiwe and Steve Putter/Flockhart and a fleet of Tazzes including the Total car of class champions Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan and Greg Bloomer/Greg Gericke’s Toy-Toy example.-
– The Volkswagen Algoa Rally starts in Port Elizabeth on Friday afternoon before moving out to Uitenhage and the Aldo Scribante racetrack and back to PE. Saturday sees crews tackling the Longmore Forest before finishing again in Port Elizabeth.
