The eight-crew team, the biggest privateer team in national championship rallying, currently leads two of the six classes it competes in and is in contention in all of the others.
Carrying Team TOTAL’s hopes overall and in the premier S2000 class are Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey (Toyota RunX). Damseaux has been very impressive so far this year and, with more luck, could have been higher than his current fourth place overall and sixth in class. He and Vrey have won stages and led events overall, only to fall back with problems. They finished third overall in the most recent TOTAL International Rally in Mpumalanga in May, their best result of the season to date, despite suffering an engine misfire.
The production car championship has developed into a close-fought title chase with four or five crews in the running, including Team TOTAL’s Fernando Rueda and Dave Lewkowicz (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9). Rueda led going into the last round, but he and Lewkowicz (who joined him from the second round) were sidelined with engine problems while lying second. He has dropped to fourth overall, 14 points behind leader Charl Wilken (Subaru Impreza).
Sisters Lola and Megan Verlaque are back in their rented Team TOTAL Mitsubishi Lancer, in which they finished an excellent third in the TOTAL International Rally, their best result of the season so far.
The competition is particularly tight in class N3, where just three points separate the top three crews. Reigning class N3 champion Rodney Visagie and Carolyn Swan (Team TOTAL Toyota RunX), who teamed up with Visagie again this year after many earlier successes together, are joint second on 22 points, three behind class leader Kosta Koumantarakis (Toyota RunX) and in a good position at the halfway stage of the competition to stake their claim on yet another success. They have won twice this year and are confident they will run at the sharp end of the class.
Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys (Team TOTAL Toyota RunX) enjoy a comfortable, 16-point lead in class A7 after three successive wins. Their consistency – they are the only team in their class to have scored points in all four rounds so far – has seen them overcome the challenge of sometimes faster rivals.
Team TOTAL crews rule the roost in class A6 after three wins in the first four events. The experienced pairing of reigning drivers’ champion Craig Trott and driver-turned navigator Tony Ball (Toyota RunX) lead the class in their first season together with 28 points from two wins, a second and a third. Nine points back in second place are TOTAL team-mates Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin, class winners in round three in a Toyota Corolla.
Vusi Mabanga and Shawn Visser fly the Team TOTAL flag in class A5, where they will be making their second appearance in a new Toyota Yaris. The pair gave the little Yaris a great debut in the TOTAL International Rally in May before being forced out of the rally on Saturday when the Toyota suffered a broken drive shaft on stage12.
