This is the first Sasol Rally I have missed in many, many years but I have to admit that I did not miss the Sasol as much as I thought I would.
When my phone range early this morning and I spoke to a few competitors who were a bit upset about the “competitors decisions” taken in Polokwane last year that have been changed and customised to suit the NRC and some pockets.
The so-called base notes now cost R1500 per set and includes nothing near what the old traditional route notes included in the past.
What upset some competitors however was the fact that after some heavy rain last night there was no gravel car to go over the stages to look for any exceptional changes that the rain may have caused. No “Leon” to go out at first light to get back to report any possible hazards.
Anyway – enough of that – we will see what happens after this event and if competitors will stay satisfied with a worsening situation.
Mark Cronje in the Ford Fiesta – took a rather narrow lead in stage 1 and beat Leeroy Poulter by less than a second over 16.36kms. Now for those of you who have been through a forest in anger will realise that 0.8 of a second is as long as it takes to blink your eyes after you extended the lashes. Man it is closer than close and when I saw this SMS result courtesy of whomever, I smiled thinking that this rally may just be closer than I expected.
When I heard about the rainy conditions this morning I have to admit that I felt quite safe having selected Mark Cronje earlier this year to win the championship. No one in any car would catch him in the wet and I have no doubt that the present system that favours those who can actually make notes, would suit the Ford team down to the ground. If you have seen them operate, the effort going into and accepting any situation rather that lose focus, you would agree with me.
Some of the teams especially those who orchestrated the “own” notes because of their rosy future overseas will find themselves lacking here and there even going off on a few occasions.
In stage 1 Henk Lategan in a Volkswagen stayed with the leaders and was only trailing by a respectable 8.1s. Giniel de Villiers followed 12.3s behind Lategan with Japie van Niekerk in 5th spot.
Ashley Haig-Smith was the first competitor to pick up a problem and the honour of falling out in stage 1 befell him in his S1600 Ford. Guy Botterill and also return customer for punishment Rocky Reynecke in the beautiful Mitsubishi Evo IX would fall out in stage 2.
Chad van Beurden was leading S1600 comfortably after SS1 already.
In SS2 Mark Cronje did a John Wayne on the lot and disappeared over the horizon beating second fastest Henk Lategan by no less than 11.4s over 26.35kms
This time Leeroy was third quickest but maintained his second position overall while van Niekerk managed a very good fourth fastest time. Gugu Zulu was 5th quickest with Giniel dropping down a bit in 6th fastest time.
Stage 3 belonged to Cronje again while Lategan posted second fastest time yet again and pushed Poulter back into third spot. In S1600 Van Beurden had a bit of a bad stage but despite that he still led by the proverbial mile.
Stage 4 – now here may be a bit of a problem, except if Mark Cronje got through the stage without trouble while all else had a problem. He took no less than 4minutes 4s from the second fastest competitor, who this time around was the reigning champ, Leeroy Poulter.
I will not be surprised if we have a slight correction of times in that stage.
Stage 5 was the last of the muddy gravel stages and there Mark Cronje and the super Ford had to settle for 3rd spot.
He did however take his fifth win in six stages by beating all-comers in SS6 the first of the two tar stages that will mark the end of Day One.
To cut a long story short –Cronje led the event by no less that 4m29.3s at the end of day one. We may see a 2 minute chance in the scoring and then his lead will shrink to just over 2 minutes.
The fight between Henk Lategan and Leeroy Poulter will however be on again tomorrow and nothing is certain. Lategan will be under more pressure than necessary with the early demise of Hans Weijs who is supposed to lead the team – at least that is the idea I got. Lategan has very seldom been able to keep it clean while under pressure and it will be interesting to see what he manage to do tomorrow.
A change to the times regarding Stage 4 came through before I published and at the end of day One Cronje is leading Poulter by 29.5s, he is 12.2 ahead of a charging Lategan while he has a comfortable gap of 2m46 over fourth placed van Niekerk.
Giniel de Villiers is within reach of van Niekerk with only 33s separating them. The race for fourth spot can become as interesting as that for second.
Chad van Beurden and Nico Swatz in their S1600 Polo is leading second placed S1600 contender Paulus Franken in another Volkswagen Polo by a comfortable 2m12s.
The rain could be a bit more accommodating tomorrow but the problem will lie in mid forest sections – where the competitors will probably not be pre-warned properly against possible water damage or change of conditions.
Day two of the Sasol is going to be a interesting day and I do not expect more than about 12 finishers in this event.
So, sit back and try to relax while we enjoy some rallying.