The Sasol DualFuel™ factory-entered and Dealer Team crews dominated the 11th Sasol Rally, run in the traditional Mpumulanga areas of Sabie, Graskop and Nelspruit this weekend (7-8 June). –
– Enzo Kuun and Pierre Arries (Sasol DualFuel™ Volkswagen Golf) became the first double winner in the 2002 National Rally Championship, which reached the halfway point of the season, when they headed home the 30 survivors from an original entry of 70 cars, a Sasol Rally record. –
– Thousands of spectators thronged the stages as they witnessed the top rally drivers in SA battle it out for honours. The lead changed hands no fewer than five times over the two-day event. –
– Kuun grabbed the early lead after the first two stages on day 1, before overshooting twice on stage 5, handing the lead to the factory Team Castrol Toyota pairing of former champions Serge Damseaux and Guy Hodgson. –
– Damseaux had the advantage of running first on the road during the night stages, where dust problems are often the determining factor in securing victory. Chasing Damseaux hard through the night section was the second Sasol VW entry of current National Drivers’ and Navigators’ champions, Jan Habig and Douglas Judd, who managed to hold Damseaux to just a 6 second deficit. –
– Damseaux elected to deliberately incur a 10 second penalty, however, which placed him second on the road for the crucial second day’s stages, allowing Habig to sweep the road of loose stones and grit. –
– Habig managed to retain his lead through Saturday morning, which saw Damseaux’s Toyota Corolla retire after stage 14 with gearbox problems. After the Saturday lunch break at Sabie, the final grouping of 5 stages (50km) allowed the two Sasol Golf’s to go head to head in the quest for victory. Kuun dominated the final day, winning eight of the ten stages, while Habig/Judd left the road after hitting a rock and damaging the suspension on the penultimate stage. –
– This allowed the two factory Sasol DualFuel™ Volkswagen Polo Playa entries to finish an incredible 2nd and 3rd overall, Hergen Fekken/Dave Lewkowicz ahead of their team mates Tjaart van der Walt /Mike Burrows. Vd Walt was delayed on the first day with a puncture, and the subsequent flailing rubber caused bodywork and fuel filler damage. With an intense rivalry in class A7, vd Walt concentrated on accumulating points towards the class championship instead of closing down the gap between himself and Fekken. –
– The other top class A7 entry of Etienne Lourens/Andre Vermeulen (Team Total Toyota Corolla RSi) suffered a broken drive shaft early on day 1; the subsequent time loss exiting the stage and repair work caused the Total crew to run out of service time and they were forced to retire. –
– Claiming the class A6 victory and an excellent sixth overall was Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Graham Hooper (Team Total Toyota Corolla RSi) after a trouble free run. Fellow Team Total runner Craig Trott/Gerhard Snyman rolled their Corolla out of the event on the first night stage on day 1 while Visser du Plessis/Greg Gericke had a major accident on stage 9. Fortunately, none of the crew members were injured. –
– Marking his return to the sport after an absence of five years, Leon Botha/Danny van Vuuren debuted their brand new class N4 Subaru Impreza WRX, and romped to victory in class N4 and ended an amazing 5th overall. The current class champion, Johnny Gemmell/Robert Paisley, retired their L&J Plant Services Subaru Impreza on the first day with engine problems after holding an initial fourth place on the leader board. –
– Schalk Burger/Piet Swanepoel (Bridgestone Sasol DualFuel™ Subaru Impreza WRX), the current FIA African Rally Championship title holders, had to retire on Saturday afternoon with an ailing engine, due to damage sustained after a high jump and hard landing earlier in the day. –
– The first of the Sasol DualFuel™ Dealer Team VW Playa entries, Barry Grobbelaar/Paul van Wyk ended sixth overall, while the sister car of Tony Ball/Dean Redelinghuys ended eighth, with the third Dealer Team entry of Keith Coleman/Uwe Koch just 10 seconds behind Ball in ninth. –
– Sandwiched between Grobbelaar and Ball was the privateer entry of Chris de Wit/Shane Saville (CTH Transport Toyota Conquest), who drove consistently to secure their second top 10 placing of the season. –
– Rounding out the top 10 and winning class N2 was the Capetonian pairing of Richard Behm/Grant St Clair (Palbin Toyota Corolla RSi) after fellow Toyota competitors Dean Sanders/Ashley Gericke lost over eight minutes on day one with a double puncture on stage 5. Sanders drove as a man possessed to make up much of his deficit, and ended 13th overall and second in class. –
– Class A5 was won by Kobus Roos/Brendan Nunan (Sasol DualFuel™ Volkswagen Chico Junior Team), ending 12th overall, marking the first class win for VW’s newly developed modified Chico and Roos’ first finish this year. –
– Roos led his class from the start, leaving the reigning class champions, Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan behind, after the Team Total Toyota Tazz pairing suffered from a myriad of problems and were eventually forced to stop for the day after the driveshaft broke. –
– The Castrol Toyota Media Challenge was won by Ferdi de Vos/Johan Smalberger (Drive/Wiel), who ended an excellent 14th overall and second in class A5, from Michele Lupini/Steve Grobbelaar (Cars In Action/Motorsport Africa Tazz). Deon Schoeman/Andre van Deventer (Topcar) retired from the event. –
– The Sasol VW Junior Team entry of Gugu Zulu/Dave McGregor retired after hitting a kerb in the Subaru SuperSpecial in Nelspruit on Saturday morning, while the third entry of Nkosinathi Nzimande/Fani Fani Moyiwa retired after nose-diving into the ground after a vicious jump on stage 13. –
– Jose Ferreira/Jose da Costa (Italian Panelbeaters Nissan Sentra) won class N3, after both Ferdi Koekemoer/Richard Clark (AutoXtra Renault Clio) and Geoff Mortimer/Gerry Gericke (Nissan Finance Sentra) retired on day 1. –
– Class N1 was won by Gregory Bloomer/Gregory Wood (Toy Toy Spares Toyota Tazz), while the Team Total Sowetan development team of Vusi Mabanga/Patrick Yende rolled their Toyota Tazz on stage 1. –
– The non-points scoring class S20 was won by Jan Delport/Amanda Pretorius (Koenic VW Golf) after a rally-long battle with Theo and Rudi Venter (Williamson Panelbeaters VW Golf). –
– Other leading retirements were: –
– Fernando Rueda/Martin Botha (Motion Vehicle Wholesalers Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) – clutch before the start of the event –
– Cliff Blackman/Johan Klaasen (Topcar Fuchs Titan BMW) – suspension SS1 –
– Robin Goodman/Greg Godrich (LUK BMS VW polo Playa) – engine SS2 –
– Nicholas Ryan/Felicity Prins (ABC Motors Subaru Impreza) – suspension SS2 –
– Allen Worms/Ciaran Nunan (Lessan Engineering Toyota Corolla) – shock absorber SS5 –
– Peter Teague/Donovan brown (Higas VW Polo Playa) – alternator –
– Joel/Anneke Ritson (Merlin Nissan Sentra) – rolled after the stub axle broke –
– Jaco Venter/Tommy du Toit (Venter Motors Toyota Corolla) – drive shaft –
– Gawie Nel/Eugene Lourens (Beaver Services Subaru Impreza WRX) – overheating –
– Mally Saville/Alec Harris (Auto Services Subaru Impreza WRX) – suspension broke after hitting a rock in SS17 –
– FULL RESULTS AND STAGE TIMES ARE AVAILABLE AT www.sasolrally.co.za –
– The Sasol Rally 2002 will be screened on MNet Supersport on Saturday 15 June at 13h00. –
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