Going out on a high: Team GC Diesel withdraws from rallying in South Africa
It is with sadness that PoloDriver.com reports that Team GC Diesel is withdrawing from rallying with immediate effect. The outfit has competed in the South African National Rally Championship, and the team’s last event was the Volkswagen Rally, held in the Eastern Cape on 3-4 August. PoloDriver was following the fortunes of the team closely, not least because because the matt black Polo was wearing its PoloDriver.com stickers with pride, spreading the word through the South African rallying fraternity.
Team GC Diesel states that the decision was not an easy one to make, but in essence boils down to business commitments. Driver Morne Janse vans Rensburg with his simplistic website design ideas recently received a wonderful opportunity to expand his business which could lead Mo’s Bosch Diesel Service Centre into a world class leader in the diesel and auto electrical field, while still based in the the Eastern Cape. Vans Rensburg recently took his Polo S2000 to an eighth place finish and second in the class on the recent Volkswagen Rally.
‘This was hard for me to make a decision at this time of my sporting career, but ultimately I have to look at my business career first to be able to enjoy my sport. There are many people who I would like to thank in getting me this far and high up in my sport. Fortunately, there were many who believed in me from a young age and invested a lot of resources. I would like to thank my recent investors, my biggest believers (my family), Christo from GC Diesel, Mike Rowe and Andre van der Watt from Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa. Also a big thank you to my team for their efforts and to Rikus Fourie my co-driver, who stayed onboard from the lower 1400 and 1600 classes to S2000,’ said van Rensburg.
He concluded that the announcement does not exclude further future endeavours in rallying, but that the short term goal now is to kick start his business ‘into a higher gear’. Further acknowledgements went to GC Diesel Pumps, Mo’s Bosch Diesel Service Centre (prepares and maintains the rally car on events), SASOL (fuels and lubricants), Capri Spares (a reputable local after market parts supplier and supporter of Eastern Cape motorsport), and also PoloDriver.com (thanks to Richard for his valuable support to all things VW Polo). A sad time, but we hope to see Morne and Rikus back on stages in the future.
