Round five of the SA National Rally Championship has a new sponsor – Imperial Toyota – and will see the second half of the season blast off to a quick start from the traditional ramp at the Zonderwater Correctional Services facility in Cullinan, east of Pretoria on Friday, August 15.
“We are very grateful to Imperial Toyota for coming on board and assisting with backing to stage a round of our national rally championship,” said Richard Leeke, President of the Rally Commission of Motorsport South Africa. “They are already involved as the sponsor of one of Toyota Motorsport’s three entries in the premier Class S2000 and we welcome them to our small but dedicated band of event sponsors with the Imperial Toyota Cullinan Rally.”
The rally, which is again being organised on behalf of the National Rally Commission by experienced clerk of the course Willie du Plessis and his team from SAM (the South African Motorsport Club), will feature some new special stages which will be part of the same challenging mix of farm roads in a predominantly mealie-growing area with some bush and tight, twisty sections.
According to Du Plessis, the two-day route will cover some 400 kilometres of which around 160 kilometres will be timed special stages on gravel surfaces only – six on Friday and six on Saturday.
“We will not be using the stages in the Mamelodi area that we used last year, but have found one new stage near Cullinan and another two on the way to Bronkhorstspruit,” said Du Plessis.
“We would again like to acknowledge the excellent co-operation from the landowners and the officials at the Zonderwater Correctional Services facility,” he added.
There will be a single designated service park at the Zonderwater Correctional Services facility on both days, which will also serve as the start and finish on both days.
The Imperial Toyota Cullinan Rally will start from the Zonderwater facility at 11:00 on Friday, August 15. After an overnight stop at Zonderwater the event will restart on Saturday, August 16 at 08:00 and is expected to finish around 15:00. The traditional TV podium ceremony is scheduled for 16:30.
With four rounds of the championship remaining Toyota Motorsport’s Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Toyota Yaris) lead the standings with 78 points, 15.5 ahead of the Dutch/Belgian duo of Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn Degandt (Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo). Just 11 points covers second to fifth, with any of the top six crews capable of taking the victory in Cullinan. Defending champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Dealer Team Fiesta), who won the inaugural Cullinan Rally last year, are fourth in the championship and are coming off successive wins in the last two rounds.