Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle win rally in Secunda

Next round of South African national rally will take place in October

September 22, 2020

Jana Oosthuizen 2 minutes read

A rally driver speed down the track on Saturday, 12 September during the South African national rally championship held in Secunda.

SECUNDA – Round 1 and 2 of the South African National Rally Championship took place in Secunda on 11 and 12 September and Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle took the lead in their Toyota Etios R4.

A total of 22 teams lined up at the beginning point of the race.

The organisers described the route in and around Secunda as a superb combination of fast and flowing stages with hairpins, tight turns and narrow gates.

Botterill said it was nice to get two wins under the belt and that they are still learning about their new car and left a lot of time on the table.

“We were pushing but also circumspect, making sure we gathered as much information as we could from this event,” said Botterill.

“It takes time to understand your car, and the best thing we could do was gather some mileage.”

Theuns Joubert and Carl Peskin finished second in both rounds with their Toyota Yaris S2000 and Johan Strauss and Elzaan Venter finished third in round 1 in the NRC1 class.

Chris Coertse and Greg Godrich hit a pole in the first round and worked through the night to repair their Hyundai I20 R4 to finish third in their respective class and overall in round 2 of the Lake Umuzi rally.

JJ Potgieter and Tommy du Toit took a double victory I their Ford Fiesta R2N and finished overall third and fifth in the NR2 class while Michael McGregor and Robbie Coetzee finished second in round 1, followed by George Smallberger and Anriko Opperman. Smallberger also finished second in round 2 followed by local rally driver, AC Potgieter and Nico Swartz who finished third.

Ms Michelle Lillico, spokesman of the national rally championship, said a real highlight of the event was the battle of the Polo vivo GT class, which welcomed fresh, young talent to rallying.

Rally drives in action on Saturday, 12 September during the South African national rally championship held in Secunda.

Benjamin Habig (son of the legendary Jannie Habig) and Barry White finished fifth overall in round 1 while Jayden Els and Matt Kohler claimed the win in round 2.

Els and Kohler finished seventh overall.

Another local rally driver, Natie Booysen, took part in the rally with his classic Ford Escort in the national class.

According to Ms Lillico, the NR1 class had a good turnout with four contenders.

Round 3 of the national rally will take place in October.

The South African national rally championship is a series of rallying events that has taken place annually since 1960.