Kuun and Judd finish fourth as weather is ultimate victor at Garden Route Rally
The final round of the 2013 South African National Rally Championship was dramatically cut short on 17 November, as bad weather stopped play at the Garden Route Rally. Only six of the planned 12 stages could be completed by rally crews before the inclement conditions proved insurmountable. Five stages were run on day one, while just one – the Montague Pass – proved drivable on the second day. At the point of finish, the field were given positions relating to their standings at that particular point on round eight of the championship.
For Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa’s Enzo Kuun and Douglas Judd, that meant just missing out on a podium place. The Polo S2000 pair come in fourth behind the Team Castrol Toyota Yaris of Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee. A consistent performance up until that point would have heralded a good finish. Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries brought their Polo S2000 home four places further down the field, but it was a good recovery, as the car was damaged by a rock on the final stage of day one.
A smooth performance saw Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin end the rally sixth in their Polo Vivo S2000 and second overall in the S2000 Challenge class. ‘The 2013 season has been incredibly demanding,’ said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa. ‘A lot has been expected of man and machine, and the final round just served to underscore how extreme the year has been.’ The highest-placed Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000 driver was Fekken in seventh, with Kuun 10th, and Henk Lategan 11th. Zulu came in eighth.
