The Ford Performance crew of Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in a Ford Fiesta S2000 has won the 2015 Sasol Rally that finished in Nelspruit this afternoon. Cronje took the lead on the event from the first stage and was never really under great pressure. Second was Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee in a Castrol Toyota Yaris.
Third and their first podium in a long time was Gugu Zulu and Pierre Arries in a Sasol Volkswagen Racing Polo.
The rally took a heavy toll on some of the front runners towards the end. Giniel de Villiers and Carolyn Swan who was in third overall withdrew from the event with a blown engine. Poulter managed to hold on to his second place in spite of a broken driveshaft.
Earlier today Henk Lategan and Barry White in a Sasol Volkswagenracing Polo and Japie van Niekerk and Gordon Noble in a NAD Ford Fiesta had a major get together on the first stage of the day and had to withdraw.
Ernie van der Walt and Greg Godrich in a Vecto Fuel Toyota Yaris withdrew this afternoon when they rolled out of the event. It was Van der Walt’s debut event in his new Toyota Yaris.
Chad van Beurden in a S1600 Toyota Etios R2, has won the 2WD class, while Wilro Dippenaar from Namibia in a Toyota Auris won the NR4 class.
The African Rally Championship competition was won by Jaspreeth Chatthe from Kenya in a Mitsubishi.
The rally was the second round of the SA and African Rally Championships.
A full report and final results will be published later when they come to hand.