Most of us have the habit to analyse a win – especially if we lose – to see if it was “deserved” or a “fluke”.
No matter how you look at the win achieved during the Volkswagen Rally last week by Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee in the Toyota Yaris – it was well-deserved after what can only be described as a superb drive. They managed to finish the rally, that ran two stages short due to extreme rain, by 27.2 seconds ahead of current log leaders Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton driving a Ford Fiesta.
When one looks at the stage analysis (I gave up trying to get a copy which I can analyse without having to re-type all) of the event – a bright ray of hope pops out for Mark Cronje as he lost the rally in Stages 3 and 5 in which he lost a combined 33.1s
This rally was not the best of rallies in which to compare the Toyota’s improvement – but it became clear that Cronje and the Ford will have to dig a little bit deeper to keep the Toyota and Poulter at bay.
The other factor that stands out like a sore thumb is the quantum leap in rally terms between the two top drivers and the rest. Of course you can argue that some of the other drivers do pop onto the scene every now and then, but then you have to admit they also either pop off the road or pop a spare part – usually something that connects a wheel or shock-absorber.
When you compare this to almost anywhere in the world – it is not exceptional to have one or two drivers in a class of their own, but the gaps left locally is simply too big.
A driver said to me a while ago that the speed our cars are now carrying through corners are exceptional or in his words – very high. That may be so, but what is it like compared with the rest of the world.
The problem that causes the difference is basically that we simply see the sport differently to what for instance the European drivers do. I had the honour to try and assist a few drivers from various countries over the past few months and I have to say that in most cases our drivers will beat them easily, but in no case do we take training and practice as serious as any of them.
The local heroes love the long and fast stuff – the sections where there are almost no skills required and the car’s suspension does all the work. The Europeans are into the tight stuff all the time – not worried about their ability to drive at maximum speed when the time comes.
Anyway – that is not my problem so let’s walk away from it.
Fact is and the Volkswagen Rally proved that once again – if you lose more than a few seconds in a stage you can almost forget about winning when you drive in the top bracket.
Looking at Mark Cronje’s attack after his mishaps in three and five – it is clear that a gap of 10 and more seconds is a gap indeed!
So one cannot afford to slip up in anyway.
Although I have not been able to attend the event – I received enough information to be able to deduct that both Poulter and Cronje must have driven incredibly well under the self-inflicted pressure. If you have never driven in anger on properly wet roads with a wolf on your tail – you will not have an idea of how nerve-wrecking this can be.
From a Ford point of view the progress Toyota made with both Poulter and de Villiers must be a concern.
In the Toyota camp they must have good reason to smile as they have now proven that they have the upper-hand in sandy conditions (Bela Bela) and that they can keep up and beat the Ford under extreme conditions (Port Elizabeth) – albeit with a bit of luck.
Poulter won 6 and Cronje 3 from the possible 10 stages with one going to Giniel de Villiers who drove an incredibly consistent rally – again considering the weather and other circumstances and deservedly filled the final spot on the podium.
Japie van Niekerk cannot claim to have had a great event and his stage positions fluctuated between 4th and seventh all the time.
I am scared to say anything about Volkswagen – as a matter of fact I have not heard anything from any of their teams and …
Well to be honest what do you say about a team that simply cannot get it right?
I hoped before this rally that we were in for a pleasant surprise and that we would see a Volkswagen take the event. I even went so far to stick my neck out to say that there may be a third overall winner for this season.
Nada – zilch – nix! Really nothing!
Hergen led the team to the finish battling along apparently with some handling problems, Henk made another early mistake and Gugu who also suffered some mishaps on Friday tried to keep the flag flying – although it hung half-mast. The latter two teams had their own private little dice and Henk managed to pass Gugu in the final stage of the event to finish 6th.
There are stronger and stronger rumours that we will see a huge if not dramatic change on the rally scene at the end of this season. Some people believe that there might only be one official team left – if they are also not pulled in due to a lack of results.
If these rumours are true – we will have a tremendous battle to keep the sport alive although I am not included in the “we”.
I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens.
Things went wrong early in the S1600 class for Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle and also for a few other of the top teams giving Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne another fine win for this season.
They finished the rally over a minute clear of MathewVacy-Lyle and Schalk van Heerden (Fragram Tools Toyota Etios) – the only other team in the class to see the chequered flag.
I was quite disappointed not to see jaart Conradie and Tiaan Rabe finish the event but when they drowned their car in Stage 8 they were lying 3rd in class.
Piet Bakkes/Shaun Visser (Accident Guru Panelbeaters Toyota Auris) was the only team to finish in the NRC4 class, while Tjaart Coetzee/Anza Muller won the newly introduced Cup category in their Volkswagen Polo.
The three factory-backed VW Sasolracing crews finishing fifth, sixth and seventh in S2000, a VW Polo crew winning the S1600 class and a Polo first in the Cup category secured Volkswagen the Manufacturer’s title for the rally.
The sixth round in the SA National Rally Championship, the Cullinan Rally, is scheduled for 14 and 15 August 2015 in Gauteng.