Runaway championship leaders Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle (Yato Tools Toyota Etios) will be seeking a fourth successive S1600 victory in the national championship Volkswagen Rally in the Eastern Cape on July 11 and 12. Their dream run so far this season with the two-wheel drive Etios has seen them accumulate a perfect score of 75 points from the first three rounds of the championship and it’s going to take some doing to interrupt their determined march to the title.
In sharp contrast, reigning champions Clint Weston and Christoff Snyders, who won three rounds and finished on the podium five times in 2013, have endured a wretched season to date in the Reef Tankers Citroen C2 R2. Electrical problems have dogged them throughout the first three rounds this year, resulting in two DNFs and just 6.5 points from round one. The Citroen is undergoing a total rebuild and will not be contesting the VW Rally.
Botterill’s closest competition to date in the drivers’ championship has come from Willie van Straaten (Toyota RunX) and Ashley Haigh-Smith (Castrol Ford Fiesta R2), who are joint second, 32 points behind the leader. Both have finished second in a round to date, Haigh-Smith with co-driver Damian van Ass in the most recent PMC Gauteng Rally in May and surprise package Van Straaten with co-driver Howden Scott in the season-opening Tour Natal Rally in March.
Matthew Vacy-Lyle, brother of Simon and just four points adrift of second place in a Fragram Tools Toyota Etios, is still a strong contender for a top-three championship result, while Richard Leeke Jnr (ATS Ford Fiesta R2), who turned 18 in March and is the youngest driver in the championship, scored his first podium finish in the Sasol Rally in April and is just half a point behind Vacy-Lyle.
Things are slightly different in the co-drivers’ championship, where Pierre Jordaan is second overall after competing with three different drivers to date. Van Straaten’s co-driver, Scott Howden, and Haigh-Smith’s team-mate, Damian van Ass, are joint third ahead of Schalk van Niekerk, Matthew Vacy-Lyle’s co-driver.
Leeke has employed the services of three different co-drivers to date and will have the experienced Rickus Fourie alongside him on the VW Rally for the second event in a row.
Just 10 points separates fourth-placed Matthew Vacy-Lyle from 10th-placed Chris Coertse and 16-year-old Mari van der Walt (Electrothread Toyota Etios R2), which is a clear indication of the competitiveness of this class.
Chad van Beurden and Nico Swartz (Beurden Construction VW Polo R2) showed their pace with second place in the Sasol Rally and, despite two Super Rally finishes in the first and third rounds, are sixth in the championship standings and just eight points off the podium.
Paulus Franken and Henry (Manitou Group VW Polo R2) showed some pace in round three with third place and, together with AC Potgieter and Tommy du Toit VW Polo, sixth in round one, and Andrew Heine and former S1600 champion co-driver Robbie Coetzee (Toyota Auris), third in round one, are all capable of causing an upset .
Ernie van der Walt and James Aldridge (Ferodo Ford Fiesta R2) are also not to be discounted and are due to improve on their best result to date of seventh in round two.