A brand new event on the domestic rally scene, the Zulu Rally SA is the 4th round of the FIA African Rally Championship and South Africa’s candidate bid event to secure a round of the World Rally Championship. In accordance with FIA rules, teams are allowed to use safety notes and drive over the route before the rally to compile their route schedule.
Serge Damseaux, with 70 career wins to his name, is chasing his 11th SA Drivers Championship title and has high hopes for the event. Teamed with Robert Paisley, looking for his third co-driver’s title, the duo won the Toyota Dealer Rally in March but has had slim pickings on the other two events.
The class S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX RSi will face an unknown competitor from Italy in the shape of the new S2000 Fiat Punto.
“It will be great to have another car here – we can see what’s been put into it and how it’s been put together. Although they’ve won two rallies this year, their potential on gravel is an unknown”, says the Somerset West-based driver.
“My concerns for this event are the three stages without a service or refuel. We’ll have to drive hard enough to be competitive yet preserve the car to get back to service. Traffic on the long open sections is another issue I’m worried about, but I’m sure the organizers have made allowances for that”.
Serge continued: “The pace at the front is now so fast that there is no margin for error. Running on safety notes will make it even faster and the risk that much greater, but it’s the same for all of us”.
Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich are relishing the new challenge facing them in KwaZulu Natal. Running the Castrol Toyota RunX RSi in the top A7 two wheel drive class, Charl is happy with the performance of his car and is three points off the class lead with another five rounds to go.
“It will be nice to do a proper recce and drive on pace notes – that evens out a lot of the experience of the guys who’ve been rallying longer than we have. I hear the roads are nice and flowing, but it will be a challenging event”, says the Pretoria PR consultant. “Long sections without service means we will have to find the right blend of speed and reliability. You cannot afford to have any mechanical problems but the RunX is very much the way I want it now, so we’re going all out for a win”.
Stepping into the unknown is a trio of newcomers: Mark Cronje, Chris Birkin and the class A6 Castrol Toyota RunX RS. Mark and Chris are anxiously looking for their first finish of their short rally careers and their objective in Natal will be to get more mileage on the car at the very start of its development cycle.
“Neither Chris nor I have run on safety notes before, so it’s a completely new experience for us. The team has found a bit more power from the engine, which is encouraging, and we hope to be able to do some pre-event testing, which will help enormously”, says Mark.
“The class is a tough one and the top guys like Craig (Trott) and Schalk (Burger) have well developed cars, although I think the RunX is ahead on suspension and braking. It will be a good fight and I’m looking forward to it”.
Toyota’s official corporate sponsorship partner, Total fields a team of nine cars across the various classes, making it the biggest privateer team in SA rallying.
Heading the lineup and buoyed by a strong 2nd overall on the recent Sasol Rally and an overall win on the recent Tzaneen regional rally is Etienne Lourens and Andre Vermeulen in their class S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX RSi. Etienne has a couple of poor seasons behind him but is now in a position to challenge for outright wins once more.
Leading class A7 by three points is Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey in their Team Total Toyota RunX RSi. Two class wins from JP and one from Charl have given Toyota a strong 1-2 on the class points log.
Class A6 is firmly Toyota territory, where Schalk Burger/Wimpie van Greunen lead the way in their SBinvest Toyota Corolla after two successive class wins.
Team Total’s Eugene Lourens/Derek Jacobs nearly claimed the win on their last outing but late problems dropped them to 2nd in class. Multiple class champions Craig Trott/John Costa are having a poor season by their lofty standards, the Team Total Toyota Corolla pairing languishing in 3rd in the class rankings.
Michael Houghton and Bryn Doherty, the reigning class A5 champions, have their Team Total Toyota Tazz in a narrow 3-point class lead, ahead of their eternal rivals, Etienne Malherbe/Hennie Botes’s identical Aprilia Racing Toyota Tazz. Michael has two wins and a second place to Etienne’s one win and two second places.
Vusi Mabanga and new co-driver Bongi Nkonyane continue to learn their craft in their Team Total Sowetan Toyota Tazz, and scored class points on the Toyota Dealer Rally in March.
Team Total has no less than three cars in the hotly contested class N3. Current champions Chris de Wit and Patrick Yende lead the title race with two wins, but Chris destroyed his car on the Sasol Rally and is working around the clock to rebuild his ultra competitive Toyota RunX in time.
Rodney Visage and new co-driver Arno Lagrange (Team Total Toyota RunX RSi) have had a less than ideal season to date. Visagie’s vast experience and never say die attitude has been dampened by a series of mechanical niggles this season and they are currently 4th in the points race.
The surprise of the season has been the performances of newcomer Mohammed Moosa and Henry Dearlove in a third Team Total Toyota RunX. With less than a season of rallying behind him, Moosa nearly claimed his maiden class win but for a puncture on the penultimate stage of the Sasol Rally. The Tzaneen businessman has shown his abilities behind the wheel and a first national win is not far away.
Two Sasol-backed Toyota RunX RSis are also in the thick of the N3 championship chase. Kobus Roos and Niel Fourie hold 2nd on the title leader board after their first class win since graduating to class N3 this season and scored well on the other two events held to date.
Claudio Piazza Musso/Greg Gericke are third on the log in spite of their incredible speed, invariably leading the class before some or other problem rears its head and takes away their much deserved win. The pace in class N3 is frenetic that losing minutes due to a puncture can never be regained as the N3 Toyotas are so evenly matched that they are separated by just seconds throughout a rally.
The Zulu Rally South Africa has a ceremonial start at the Durban ICC on Thursday while the rally proper starts at 05h40 on Friday and Saturday. The rally will be contested over 12 stages, and finishes on Saturday afternoon at the Durban ICC.
