Rally of South Africa
May 19, 2010 by ProMotor
Rally fans in the Gauteng/Mpumulanga provinces will be in for a real treat when the 36th Rally of South Africa is held on 28/29 May.For the first time in nearly 14 years two Ford rally cars will be competing in the top class in a South African rally. The last time a South African competitor drove a Ford in the top class was some 14 years ago when Paulo Piazza Musso rallied a Ford Escort RS2000.
Two Class S2000 Ford Fiesta’s that have been developed in England will be among the 37 entries that the organisers of the Rally of South Africa have received. Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and his co-driver Peter Marsh from Zimbabwe, and the Pretoria based Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich, will be up against the locally developed Toyota’s and VW Polo’s.
Altogether 19 Class S2000 cars have been entered for the event, the most S2000 cars on an event so far. Leading the three-car BP Volkswagen Polo team is Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries. Stalwarts Jannie Habig/Ralph Pitchford and Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson will support him. The Toyota Castrol team consist of the two Auris entries of Johnny Gemmell/Drew Sturrock and Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley.
With the SA Sasol Rally Championships reaching its halfway stage with the Rally of South Africa, Kuun/Hodgson has handy 61 points in the bag, 16 points clear of second placed Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley. Third is Fekken/Arries on 44 points with Rautenbach/Marsh 5th on 42 points.
Wilken suffered severe bad luck on the first round of the series in Durban, when his brand new Class S2000 Ford Fiesta was burnt out. He was further frustrated when the new car that was to be shipped by air from the United Kingdom could not be here in time for the Sasol Rally as a result of the volcanic ash problem that closed the European air space for about a week.
The battle between the two state of the art S2000 Ford Fiesta’s against the older VW Polo’s and Toyota Auris cars is going to be an interesting one, with Wilken keen to make an impression in Class S2000, after moving up from N4 that he dominated in the past two seasons.
Three cars have entered Class A7, three in Class A6, one has entered class in N4, three in Class N3 and five in Class A5.
The Ermelo Challenge will be run as a rally within a rally has attracted four entries.
The 13-stage event with a total stage distance of 188km will start in Ermelo on Friday 28 May at 12:00 and finish on Saturday at about 14:00. On Friday, three stages will be held in the Warburton forests and includes the giant-killing 56km Jessievale stage. On Saturday, eight stages will be held around the Panbult forestry areas with the final two super special stages in Ermelo on Saturday afternoon.
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Hi guy’s, this is Great for us Ford Fanatics, can’t wait.
Good luck to both teams, see you there.
Just to let you know Mr.Musso. was driving a Ford Laser RS2000., I still have photo’s of that car.
Cheers
Hmmm…i would have to disagree…It was in fact and Escort
Ooops, meant Escort, age is a Bl——m.