It was perhaps a fitting end to his rally career. Giniel de Villiers won the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally for Toyota in his Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris beating his teammate , Leeroy Poulter, in a similar car by 2:32.1 in Malmesbury this afternoon.It was also according to well informed sources the last time that we would see De Villiers in a rally car.
According to the source who is well-connected in the rally world, the Toyota of De Villiers has been sold and will be shipped to Japan next week. His next big event is the Dakar Rally that starts in South America early in January next year.
Toyota not only won the rally, but Leeroy Poulter will probably also be crowned SA National Rally Championship driver, while his co-driver, Elvene Coetzee, will win the co-driver’s championship. This will be made possible, we understand, due to a special concession that has been made by Motorsport South Africa in terms of the rules.
In addition Toyota will win the manufacturers championship and score another 1-2-3 podium on a national event.
Poulter is also leading the Donaldson’s off-road championship and he has a good chance to emulate the feat of Hannes Grobler years ago of being the only competitor to have won the off-road and the rally national championship.
Theuns Joubert in a Toyota Auris in Class NRC4 was third +8:29.3.
Class S1600 was won the second time in a row, by Richard Leeke 111 in a Ford Fiesta R2 +10:40.50. He also finished fourth overall on the event, followed by Paulus Franken in a Volkswagen Polo R2+11:18.4.
Third in Class S1600 and 6th overall was AC Potgieter also in a Volkswagen +13:44.6.
The favourite to win the S1600 class. Guy Botterill, in a Toyota Etios R2, withdrew today after the restart of the rally when an accident damaged his car to such an extent that they could not continue.
The 12 stage rally started in Killareney, Cape Town yesterday morning with 30 starters and finished in Malmesbury this afternoon. It was round six of the championship. The final round is the Polokwane Rally.
Rallystar has also been reliably informed that Toyota may not enter the final round, but this could not be confirmed with Toyota.