It is all over. Cronje took a comfortable win on the Volkswagen Rally that turned out to really be a no contest event with the Ford against the rest who were reduced to mere spectators. Nobody could hardly put up a real challenge as the Ford Dealer Team Ford Fiesta of Mark Cronje just romped away and won the event by 1:30.5.
It is his second win of the season after failing to finish the first two events of the year. Leeroy Poulter in the Team Castrol Toyota Yaris, who won the first two events thanks to Cronje’s absence, had no answer on how to curb the dominance of the Ford. He played second fiddle for the whole rally. Cronje is fighting to make up the points he lost in his quest to write another SA Championship behind his name.
None of the fancied S2000 cars really made an impression. Fekken and Baumsclager in their Toyota’s and Volkswagen’s were early victims. Late in the rally Henk Lategan in the Sasolradcing Volkswagen Polo, left the road and Giniel de Villiers retired as a result of engine problems. Japie van Niekerk in the NAD Ford also exited the rally as well as Thilo Himmel who rolled his car.
Hans Weijs, in a Sasolracing Volkswagen, of whom is expected so much, bravely fought on and in spite of winning a stage could only finish third 3:28.1 behind Cronje. Gugu Zulu in the other Sasolracing Volkswagen, was fourth a distant 12:25.1 behind the winner.
Guy Botterill in a Toyota Etios won the S1600 2WD class after trailing behind Chad van Beurden for most of the event. Botterill’s time for the rally was 2:07:25.0, with van Beurden +11.4 behind.
The Volkswagen Rally was the fourth round of the National Championship. The next event is on 16 August in Gauteng.