PoloDriver

Round four of the South African National Rally Championship was a tough outing for the Volkswagen Sasolracing team. The Volkswagen Rally, the squad’s home event, was a challenging two-day drive. A glut of punctures on day one caused problems, slowing the Polo S2000 teams down, increasing stage times. Enzo Kuun and Douglass Judd scored the highest result of the weekend with a fifth place at the event, also taking the first stage win of the rally, having had a good start from the off. The pair also won three of the final four stages, while team-mates Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries came in one place behind them in sixth.

Henk Lategan and Barry White claimed two stage wins, taking the team’s total to nearly half of all the victories available. Lategan and White competed under Super Rally regulations on the second day, though, after getting stuck after a flying finish on day one. The recovery time needed to get them back on the road necessitated running in Super Rally. Meanwhile, defending S2000 Challenge champions Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin were forced into retirement for the first time in two seasons. Gearbox problems sidelined them with four stages to go.

‘It has been a tough weekend for the whole team in Port Elizabeth,’ said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘We didn’t achieve the results we were aiming for, but made very good use of the opportunity to do some extended testing with Lategan and White competing in Super Rally on Saturday. The stage wins are a clear indication that we have the pace, the focus now is on tying all those together to clinch the results the pace should be providing,’ Rowe added.

A strong contingent of Polos made up the rest of the field. The older-specification S2000 Challenge class was led by the Team Total Toyota Auris of Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Hilton Auffray, but Morne Janse van Rensburg and Rikus Fourie out up a good fight in the matt black GC Diesel Racing Polo which wore its PoloDriver.com sticker once again with pride. The GC Diesel Racing four-wheel drive Polo Vivo finished the event in eighth place. The two-wheel drive S1600 Polos of Chad van Beurden and Henry Dearlove, and Paul Franken and Henry Kohne started well, but sadly dropped down the event rankings on day two.

Volkswagen South Africa also took the opportunity to unveil the Polo Rally Cup in Port Elizabeth, and while official details are yet to be confirmed, PoloDriver.com believes it to be an FIA-approved R2 class one-make series, using S1600 cars. More details as they are announced. The next round of the 2013 South African National Rally Championship is on 16-17 August, and will see the Volkswagen Sasolracing crews competing in Gauteng.

[Images: ledbitter@quickpic]