With four stages of the Bela Bela Rally, the fourth round of the SA National Rally championship, done and dusted, Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee in a Team Castrol Toyota Yaris, have taken the lead. Poulter has won all four stages for the day, and Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in the Ford Performance Ford Fiesta finds themselves in an unfamiliar second, 19.1 seconds behind the leader.
Poulter and Cronje are the two top contenders for the championship. Cronje’s performance on the first four stages is somewhat unusual and one would have expected him to at least win one stage. The second day of the rally tomorrow consists of six more stages that are double the distance of the four stages completed today. The total stage distance of the rally is about 180km. Today’s stages totalled some 54km.
The rally was punted as being fast and tricky prior to the start and it is possible that Cronje may be playing a waiting game. On the other hand Toyota Motorsport may have found more power for the Yaris giving Poulter an advantage over the Cronje Ford.
Third overall were Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries in a Team Sasolracing Volkswagen Polo 48.6 seconds behind Poulter with Japie van Niekerk in a NAD Ford Fiesta fourth on 58.5.
Fifth overall in a Sasolracing Volkswagen Polo, is Thilo Himmel 1:02.1 off the lead, followed by Hein Lategan in another Volkswagen 15 seconds slower. Gugu Zulu in a third Volkswagen Polo is seventh overall 1:20.3 behind with Wilro Dippenaar in a NR4 Toyota Auris trailing the leader by 1:22.9 in 8th place..
Giniel de Villiers and Carolyn Swan who was first on the road today in a Team Castrol Toyota Yaris, has dropped from third on the leaderboard after the early stages to ninth overall 1:29.7 behind Poulter.
The leader in class S1600 is Guy Botterill in a Toyota Etios R2, followed by Paulus Franken in a Volkswagen Polo R2 and Chad van Beurder in a Ford Fiesta R2.
The cars will overnight in Bela Bela tonight and restart to tomorrow morning. The event has drawn 21 national entries and the regional competitors in the Northern Regions Championship will joim up with the rally tomorrow.