BP VW rally team set for maximum action at round three
April 19, 2010 by ProMotor
for maximum action at round three…
THE BP Volkswagen rally team kick the season into high gear with one of the most anticipated events on the 2010 calendar. Round three this season is the Sasol Rally, a perennial favourite of competitors and spectators.
While this event is held in high regard, it is also extremely punishing and many an unwary team has received a good kicking for laxness. This rally sees the national field head to Mpumalanga for two days of intense competition in the areas around Sabie, White River and Nelspruit.
The scene for the 2010 battle was set in the Western Cape, round two of this season. Here the defending champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries crossed the line for third place, putting them just two points ahead of their pursuers.
This puts them within striking distance of their competitors – which come in two forms. The first is their BP Volkswagen rally teammates, Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson who claimed another second-place on the podium for 2010 in the Western Cape and the Ford Fiesta of Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh who claimed victory in their first outing in the S2000 class.
Rautenbach and Marsh have moved from the Production Car class – where they competed for the last time in round one this year – to the S2000 class with a successful debut putting them amongst the top three on the leaderboard. At the Sasol event they will be joined by Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich who’s first outing in the Fiesta turned disastrous when their rally car set alight and burnt out during the opening round of the 2010 season in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
This makes the Sasol Rally a three-way fight instead of the traditional battle between the BP Volkswagen team and their Toyota rivals. Certainly even more interesting for spectators, but also highly challenging for the competitors.
The BP Volkswagen team have dominated the S2000 class every season with Jan Habig and Douglas Judd claiming the first title. Habig now has a new navigator, Ralph Pitchford, who is making a transition from international off-road competition to local rallying, and they pair are currently 13th overall and 12th in the S2000 class.
The S2000 field has grown dramatically of late and there are now 17 cars in this battle, three of them the BP Volkswagen S2000 Polo entries. The fight for honours is made even tougher for the green and blue of the BP Ultimate cars as the Polo chassis is the oldest in the field and every ounce of performance is being wrung out of it to stay ahead of their challengers.
Development on the cars remains continuous to keep the BP Volkswagen team at the top of the points log.
In A7 the Sasol Rally will mark the second outing for Gugu Zulu and Shaun Visser in their BP Volkswagen Polo. The pair contested round one in Kwa-Zulu Natal in their A5 Citi-Golf from the 2009 season and then moved to this new car at round two in the Western Cape.
Their first outing in the Polo ended when an electrical problem prevented them from continuing the event – after a strong showing on the first day that put them in a good overnight position. The A7 class is much faster than the action in A5 and Zulu and Visser are still finding their feet together as a new driver/navigator pairing for the 2010 season.
The Sasol Rally will be another opportunity to work on their in-car communication while also tackling the more demanding rallying style that is required in the A7 class. The duo are concentrating on finishing rallies in these early stages before mounting a more serious A7 class challenge.
In the A5 class André Cleenwerck and his navigator from this season, Kesevan Naidoo, are also hard at work. The pair are second in this class behind the Toyota of Ashley Haigh-Smith and Hilton Auffray after two events, a situation they will be aiming to change with the Sasol Rally.
Cleenwerck and Naidoo were unable to complete the second rally this season due to engine problems just six kilometers from the end of the final stage of the rally. This was not an ideal result after their battle to usurp the class leaders was finally rewarded with a seven second lead into that final stage.
The 2010 season is proving a challenge for the BP Volkswagen team irrespective of the class of competition, but this team, more than any other in the national championship, is capable of rising to the challenge and again stamping their authority on the series.
Spectators can look forward to maximum action and the blur of green and blue as the BP Volkswagen rally team puts the finish line – and overall victory – firmly in their sights at the Sasol Rally in 2010.
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