This is the 21st event sponsored by Volkswagen, which also coincides with the 200th year celebration of Uitenhage. Uitenhage is also the home base for Volkswagen SA. There will be plenty to see for the VW enthusiast, that includes the new VW Touran.
This year, the rally will start from Volkswagen SA’s recently launched, Autopavillion Centre, the new museum at 11:30pm. Joe Fourie, clerk of the course said that there are 15 stages that include the treacherous and daunting Van Staden’s Pass. The majority of day two will be run in Longmore Forest guaranteed to supply enthusiasts with a lot of action. Stage 15 finishes at Kings Beach at 14:57.
With as many as 40 entries expected, rally enthusiasts are sure to see action from start to finish as each class will have it’s own battle.
In class A8 Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson and Jan Habig/Douglas Judd in their BP VW Racing Golf 4s will be fighting Serge Damseaux/Robert Paisley, winners of the 2003 Volkswagen Rally in their Castrol Team Toyota RunX. Serge Damseaux/Paisley retired from the SASOL Rally while Kuun/Hodgson overshot and lost valuable time that saw Habig/Judd emerge the winners. With Port Elizabeth being VW country, Kuun and Habig will try to clinch a top two finish. This is going to be a no holds barred fight from start to finish.
Class A7 will prove to be an interesting tussle between age old rivals JP Damseaux/Cobus Vrey in their Team Total Toyota Corolla versus the BP VW Racing Polo of Hergen Fekken/Dave Lewkowicz. JP Damseaux/Vrey emerged winners in class at the last two nationals. Fekken/Lewkowicz need a finish to add points to the scoreboard after two non-finishes in the last two nationals.
Veterans Andy Haigh-Smith/Gerald Brace in their class A6 React Toyota Corolla return after a two rally absence to take on Craig Trott/John Costa in their Team Total Toyota Corolla. Sure to join the Haigh-Smith versus Trott battle is the notable Jo Jo Tanks Toyota Corolla of Jakkie Joubert/Willie van Straaten.
The N4 class will be sure to read like a gripping thriller. Schalk Burger/Vito Bonafede in their Subaru Impreza face the likes of Johnny Gemmel/Greg Godrich in their Mitsubishi EVO 7 and Stephan van Dyk/Mark Pym in their House of Subaru, Subaru WRX STi.
Add Callie van der Merwe/Gideon Trollip, Visser du Plessis/Thilo von Westernhagen in their Subaru Imprezas, Richard Behm/Grant St Clair in their Mitsubishi EVO 6 and Nicolas Ryan/Brian Carrihill in their Subaru Impreza and you have a best seller. There will be a score to settle. Kobus Roos/Brendan Nunan in their Subaru WRX lost out to Japie van Niekerk/Johan Sieling in their Subaru WRX STi at a recent regional after Roos/Nunan had to dogde a dog.
Class N2 may see some surprises. Father and son team Jon and Doug Williams in their Toyota Corolla have put in solid performances at both regionals and SASOL level. It will be interesting to see how the event will pan out with the Williams’. They will be up against the likes of Chris de Wit/Patrick Yende in their Toyota Corolla.
Gugulethu Zulu/Dave McGregor in their A5 VW Citi Golf will face Nkosinathi Nzimande/Derek Jacobs in the other VW Citi Golf. Nzimande/Jacobs have had the advantage so far. Will the Volkswagen Rally go in favour of Zulu/McGregor?
For further information on the event, contact Joe Fourie, clerk of the course on [email protected]
