After the Volkswagen rally was cut short due to poor weather, the NRC was left wide open. Teams had to work hard in Tshwane if they wanted a chance at grabbing the title.
One such team was the Volkswagen Sasol team, which saw teammates Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries on the podium – their first for the season, which they achieved in only their fourth rally together.
Fekken and Arries put in a consistent performance throughout the event as they chased the result they wanted – starting with fourth position after day one, then stepping up to their podium finish.
Additionally, the Manufacturer's Award was claimed by Volkswagen and Gugu Zulu. Hilton Auffray finished in the top five.
However, it was the mighty Castrol Toyota team that took the top spot. It was fascinating and exciting but a tough duel between the leading championship contenders. In the end, Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris S2000) emerged victorious in the Imperial Toyota Tshwane Motor Rally.
After winning all four stages on the Friday, Ford’s Cronje and Houghton had a handy lead of 12.7 seconds over Poulter and Coetzee, but in the opening stage on Saturday (won by Henk Lategan/Barry White in their VW Sasol racing Polo under Superally rules) were only eight seconds ahead of the Toyota crew.
Cronje and Houghton duly made up the lost time in the next stage, winning it, but then lost 10 seconds to Poulter and Coetzee in stage eight, cutting their lead down to only 2.3 seconds. In the next stage, they took another 0.4 seconds out of their lead, to now trail by only 1.9 seconds.
The Ford performance pair’s woes in the next stage grew as they encountered steering issues. They managed to repair the steering, however, it cost them 16 minutes and eventually were classified 15th overall. This saw Poulter and Coetzee take their third consecutive victory in the series – thereby level-pegging their championship chances.
Who will take victory down in the Cape? This is Motorsport; it's only over when the chequered flag drops at the finishing line.
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