The Imperial Toyota Rally that restarted in Cullinan this morning is heading for a possible dramatic finish. The fight between the top runners are still far from over. With three of today’s six stages in the bag, Mark Cronje in the Ford Performance Ford Fiesta is leading Leeroy Poulter in the Team Castrol Toyota Yaris by a mere 2.3 seconds.
Cronje started the second day with a lead of 12.2 seconds. The first stage of the day, SS 5 was won by Henk Lategan in the Sasolracing Volkswagen Polo who has reentered the event under Rally2 rules. Poulter was second and took back 9 seconds from Cronje who finished the stage in fourth position.
On stage 6 Cronje took the stage win with Lategan second and Poulter third. Cronje restorede his lead to 12.2 seconds.
Stage 7 was one that Cronje would prefer to forget. A puncture on the left front wheel cost him ten seconds and cut his lead over Poulter to 2.3 seconds. It was also Lategan’s second stage win of the day and it helped him to move from 20th overall to 16th,
Poulter also did not have a very good stage and only finished the stage in 5th with Cronje in 8th position. Gugu Zulu in a Sasolracing Volkswagen Polo w3as second on the stage and is 5th overall. Third overall is Giniel de Villiers in the other Team Castrol Toyota Yaris 33.2 seconds behind Cronje followe3d by Herrgen Fekken in a Sasolracing Volkswagen Polo 41.6 seconds behind the leader.
Thilo Himmell is 6th overall in a Volkswagen Polo + 1:09.4 with the Class NR4 Toyota Auris of the Namibian, Wilro Dippenaar, 7th +2:01.7.
In 8th overall is Ernie van der Walt in the Vecto Toyota Yaris +2:30.4, followeed by Theuns Joubert in a NR4 Toyota Auris +5:13.5.
Japie van Niekerk who experienced mechanical problems yesterday is 10th overall in the NAD Ford Fiesta +7:10.6.
The 1600 2WD class is being led by Hug Botterill in a Toyota Etios R2. Second in the class is Richard Leeke in a Ford Fiesta R2 .
Matthew Vacy-Lyle and Schalk Van Heerden had a narrow escape when when the Toyota Etios R2 rolled shortly after the start this morning. The car is a write off, but the crew is okay after receiving medical attention.
The rally is round six of the SA National Rally Championship and finished later this afternoon at the Zonderwater Correctional Facility in Cullinan.