Reigning national rally champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton have one objective for the Bela-Bela Rally this weekend, and that’s to end the season on a high: nothing less than a victory on the final round of the South African National Rally Championship will do.
 By their standards, their 2014 campaign has been indifferent and the 2012 and 2013 champions can so far only look back on two victories this season (the second-highest wins-to-start ratio nevertheless), in a year which has been a real test of character for driver and co-driver. When things have gone well, the Ford Dealer Team Fiesta S2000 has been the fastest car over just about any given stage, but untroubled rallies have been few and far between. Yet despite their fair share of bad luck, the reigning champions have managed to maintain an impressive record when it comes to individual stage victories this year. Says Cronje: “Our plan for this weekend is to put everything that 2014 has thrown at us in the bin and go all out for our fans, the Ford dealers, and ourselves. Defending a title always makes you a target and we’ve certainly had a bulls-eye on our backs all year, but we’ve been proud to fly the Ford flag once again. We haven’t been able to retain our crown but nevertheless, a win on the closing round will make up for that, to some extent, and we could also theoretically jump from fourth in the standings into the runner-up position.” The final rally of the season is a particularly compact affair, with the tight nature of the stages likely to suit the nimble Fiesta. Four stages will be run on Friday November 21, with the remaining six on the following day. Total stage distance is 176 km, with the organisers going out of their way to make it spectator-friendly. “It has been a character-building year, but we remain focussed and certainly haven’t lost our will to win. We’ve done our homework ahead of the Bela-Bela event – which is largely virgin rally territory so preparation will be critical. As always, our fans are welcome to visit us at the service park, across the road from the Forever Resort, which also acts as rally headquarters.” |
