Toyota desperate for Cape win
Western Cape rally fans will this weekend get their first chance of the year to see in action South Africa's top dirt racers.
FAVOURITES: Japie van Niekerk/Gerhard Snyman (NAD Ford Fiesta) should be favourites to clinch the S2000 Challenge for older cars.
The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally will get underway in Brackenfell on Friday with crews set to tackle stages over a muddy, slippery 780 kilometre route.
Class S2000
Topping the entry list and certain victory favourites will be Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in their Ford Racing Fiesta.
The pair have won four of the year’s five rallies run thus far, and enjoy a substantial championship points lead over second placed Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, in their Basil Read Ford Fiesta.
The factory Sasol Volkswagen and Castrol Toyota teams have challenged – and led – rallies on occasion this year, but all six non-Ford crews have been inconsistent through sheer bad luck or mechanical issues.
Heading the challenge for event sponsors Toyota will be Johnny Gemmell/Carolyn Swan, third in the title race, with their Castrol Yaris.
They will be backed by the similar Castrol Yaris of Toyota team-mates Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee. Given clean runs both teams have the potential to spray champagne.
Heading Volkswagen’s challenge will be talented youngster Henk Lategan and Barry White in the Sasol Polo who have twice stood on the podium this season.
Volkswagen’s pair of double champions, Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Enzo Kuun/Douglas Judd, have borne the brunt of the team’s troubles.
Using identical Sasol Polo entries Kuun has visited the podium just once while Fekken has a fifth place as his best result of the year.
For the experiencedn campaigners the Cape Rally could be the turning point.
Super 2000 Challenge
The championship for older specification machinery is likely to be turned on its head with the presence of Japie van Niekerk/Gerhard Snyman and their New Africa Developments Ford Fiesta. On debut on the Ford Rally last month the duo dominated from start to finish and, although lagging on the class points table, there are enough rallies left this season to take the title fight to the wire in November.
Heading the log are JP Damseaux/Hilton Auffray (Team Total Toyota Auris) who have steadily overhauled defending champions Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin (Sasol Volkswagen Polo Vivo) with two wins and two second place finishes. Zulu and Peskin have suffered crippling non-finishes on their last two outings.
Steady scoring on every rally so far sees Mohammed Moosa/Andre Vermeulen third on the log just one point behind Zulu. Namibian youngster Wilro Dippenaar and Kesevan Naidoo (McCarthy Toyota Auris) are also strong podium contenders.
Stefanie Botha and her father Willem Hugo have put in solid performances in their Griffin Mining Toyota RunX, and should lock horns with the Accident Guru Toyota RunX of Piet Bakkes and Johan Aucamp.
Super 1600
The two-wheel drive class is heating to boiling point going into the final three rounds.
The top three contenders are separated by 4.5 points with Matthew Vacy-Lyle/Schalk van Heerden leading the ‘brat pack’ in their Fragram Tools Toyota RunX. Veteran and multiple champion Craig Trott and his 20-year-old co-driver, Janine Lourens (Team Total Toyota RunX), have crept up the order with solid results.
The quickest S1600 car is the Reef Tankers Citroen C2 R2 of Clint Weston/Christoff Snyders and they will be favourites for victory this weekend.
Early S1600 championship leaders Thilo Himmel/Armand du Toit (Toyota Etios R2) have lost momentum since their double crash on the Volkswagen Rally in July and incident-packed Gauteng 2 Rally but have the ability to excel.
Former track racer Chad van Beurden/Nico Swartz (Beurden Construction Polo Vivo) are fifth in the class standings. Van Beurden has been to the podium twice taking the best result of his short career last time out.
Ashley Haigh Smith and Welshman Craig Parry (Castrol Ford Fiesta R2) won last time out, and on home turf should run up front.
Other crews to watch include Paul Franken/Henry Kohne (Manitou VW Polo R2), Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Yato Tools Toyota RunX), Chris Coertse/Robbie Coetzee (Electrothread Toyota Etios R2), Lourens van Rensburg/Jason Plumbly (7 Films Ford Fiesta R2) and Ernie van der Walt/James Aldridge (Ferodo Ford Fiesta R2).
The Volkswagen Polo Rally Cup car will be in the hands of AC Potgieter/Tommy du Toit with its performance watched with great interest.
Andre Heine/Stephan Jones (Toyota Auris) and Danie van der Westhuizen/Tommy Coetzee (SA Earthworks Ford Fiesta R2) will bring up the tail of the field.
