IMAGES: MOTORPICS
The defending Sasol SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries drove a blindingly quick final stage of the Toyota Dealer Rally to turn a one-second deficit into a seven second winning margin to claim the narrowest of victories ahead of team mates Jan Habig and Douglas Judd on one of the fastest events on the calendar, dubbed the 'Overberg Grand Prix'.
EDITION 75: http://rallyehq.com/handbrakes-and-hairpins/H&H-75.pdf
The 2nd round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship saw the lead change five times as battle raged around Caledon in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. Blisteringly hot conditions prevailed on Friday with the mercury hitting 42 degrees and only slightly cooler conditions on Saturday to bring relief to the hard charging competitors.
Fekken and Arries showed their intent from the first stage, pushing their class S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo to the fastest time over the first of three runs over the 25.1km long Roodebloem stage, but the champions had to play second fiddle to the championship's first round winners Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh in the factory S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris. Gemmell eked out a 4 second gap over 2007 champions Jan Habig/Douglas Judd (S2000 BP Ultimate VW Polo) at the end of Friday's three gravel stages and maintained that gap after the 740 metre Brackenfell car park stage.
The battle lines were drawn: Gemmell and Habig had Fekken lurking just another four seconds back, ready to pounce at the first opportunity. That opportunity arose in Saturday's first stage, again at Roodebloem. Fekken blitzed Habig by 9 seconds and Gemmell by a massive 17 seconds; Gemmell, 8th on the road and running in thick dust, plummeted from the lead to 3rd and Fekken was in front!
What followed over the final four stages was a thrilling no holds barred contest between Fekken and Habig, with Gemmell desperately trying to make up lost time. Habig got into a three second lead after stage 7 with two to go, but Fekken pulled that back by two seconds with one stage remaining. In the final stage, Fekken drove his car faster than he ever had before to whack Habig's time by a relatively big margin of eight seconds.
Toyota Dealer Rally 2009 video highlights
"I've finally found the Polo's limits", said an elated Fekken at the Strand finish. "I couldn't have driven that car any quicker than I did. Everything worked well, every apex was inch perfect".
Fekken now shares the championship lead with Gemmell on 44 points after scoring a win and third place apiece, while the wily Habig has racked up 42 points with two second places on his scorecard with six rounds to go.
Gemmell was left to rue what could have been had there been a slight breeze. "There was absolutely no wind at all, and I had to slow quite a bit on a number of occasions or risk damaging the car and ourselves", said Gemmell, who also had a shock absorber fail halfway through the final stage.
Mark Cronjé and Robert Paisley survived a big moment in stage three to bring the second S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris home in 4th place overall. The young Toyota charger, after dropping the car off the road and out of a 56 second lead in Natal three weeks ago, sported a big red "L" learner driver sticker on the Auris' rear window, courtesy of his technicians! Cronjé achieved his aim of a safe finish without (too many) risks and banked 17 championship points.
Enzo Kuun was 5th in the third S2000 BP Polo after a frustrating rally, having run just under three km in Natal, and was a bit rusty. Kuun also lost a minute stuck behind Japie van Niekerk's New Africa Developments Toyota after a shock absorber broke, and had to contend with power steering pump failure.
Van Niekerk and co-driver Robin Houghton were locked in a fierce fight with the leading production car driven by Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich, who were tied for 6th overall after Friday's four stages. In a final bid for 6th place, Van Niekerk launched a last stage attack just as Wilken's Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza N14 hit the overheat button, forcing the production car and class N4 champions to back down and settle for 7th place.
Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman (N4 Pirtek Subaru Impreza) ended 8th overall with a sorry looking car after going through a couple of fences and otherwise taking a pounding over the dry and dusty stages.
Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes (S2000 Salom Group Volkswagen Polo) changed the car's gearbox on Friday night after first-gear problems. The replacement box was equipped with short ratios, not ideal for the very fast stages, peppered with long straights. A drive shaft failed, leaving the car in rear-wheel drive, which caused Joubert to spin as well, so 9th was a solid result for the Polokwane driver.
Both S2000 Team Total Toyota RunXes were amongst the 13 non finishers; Jean Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen retired with a blown engine in stage three and Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey followed suit in stage 6 with a rare gearbox failure after a mysterious misfire kept the genial Spaniard at the wrong end of the top 10.
Mike Nathan/Derek Jacobs (AWI Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) ended 10th overall, 3rd in class N4 and were lucky to be there as they were solidly beaten by the young Zimbabwean Chase Attwell/Brian Carrihill (Subaru Impreza). Attwell was excluded after the event, losing his maiden podium after allegedly overtaking on solid white lines in an open section.
Nathan had a big scare when he went off the road and slid uncomfortably close to a farm dam. Damage to the car from the fence was cosmetic so the Cape Town driver got under way again to record his best ever overall result.
Stevan Wilken and Greg Gericke brought their Pannar Seeds/Triton Express Volkswagen Polo to another class A7 win, but they were pushed hard all the way by Evan Hutchinson/Elvéne Coetzee's Motorite Toyota RunX. Hutchinson should have won but incurred 15 minutes of service lateness and a 150 second penalty after repairing a broken CV boot and plugging various fluid leaks.
Dave Compton/Pierre Jordaan (Sasol Toyota RunX) dominated class N3 and in a show of superb speed, beat the class A6 winners, Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Team Total Toyota Auris). Compton suffered with ultra hot engine oil which kicked the engine's VVT system into touch, robbing the car of vital kilowatts.
Moosa had his share of niggles, including a wheel scraper that jammed a wheel solid and a fuel surge problem that brought the car to a complete stop. Craig Trott, the current A6 champion driver and co-driver Robbie Coetzee (Team Total Toyota RunX) ended second overall for the second successive event and take the championship lead after rivals Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan fell out late in the rally with transmission failure.
Tjaart Coetzee, in his newly acquired ex-Hein Lategan Subaru, ended 15th overall with co-driver Raymond Heenop. The class N3 runners up, Abduraghman Amlay/Yusuf Ganief brought their Toyota RunX home 16th overall ahead of Andy Haigh Smith/Steven White (A6 React Toyota Corolla).
Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin (A5 BP Ultimate Volkswagen Citi Golf) had a driving lesson from team-mates Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier in an identical Citi Golf. Cleenwerck, the class A5 champion, had a puncture in the final stage that gifted the class win to Zulu. The pair fought tooth and nail, trading seconds as they fought for the win in a spectacular show of small car driving.
Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser (Team Total Toyota Yaris) drove a brilliant event to claim the final class podium place, their first in the Yaris. Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris) was just 16 seconds behind the similar Total car.
Morné Janse van Rensburg/Dewald Hattingh (GC Diesel Volkswagen Citi Golf) was the final finisher in 23rd place.
Other notable retirements were:
- Stephanie/Willem Hugo (A6 Wiel Toyota Corolla) -drive shaft SS9
- Schalk Burger/Armand du Toit (A7 Spike Energy Drink Toyota Corolla) - engine SS1
- Etienne du Toit/Patrick Vermaak (A6 Toyota Corolla) -engine SS1
- Riyad Jaffer/Henry Dearlove (A5 Sasol Toyota Yaris) - overheating SS1
- John Peiser/Brian Hoskins (N4 Speed Cycling Components Subaru) - water leak SS1
- Piet Bakkes/Johan Aucamp (A5 Sasol Komatipoort VW Citi Golf) - time barred
The next round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship is the Sasol Rally on 24 and 25 April
Article supplied by EVAN ROTHMAN / HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS
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