Top South African privateer Japie van Niekerk is going to go all-out for the 2015 national rally championship and has enlisted UK-based navigator Gordon Noble to sit alongside him in the New Africa Developments S2000 Fiesta.
Noble brings a huge amount of experience to the team, as well as good recent form: he’s coming to SA on the back of consecutive wins in the final rounds of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship, which earned he and young driver Alastair Fischer second place overall in the six-round series.
In the past he has also sat alongside the likes of Niall McShea (winning the 2004 Production World Rally Championship in the process), Alastair McRae (the pair winning South Africa’s Zulu Rally in 2006 when it was a WRC candidate round) and Kris Meeke.
The 53-year-old traffic engineer from Ulster competed in his first international rally in 1987 and is no stranger to calling the shots from the co-driver’s seat.
Business commitments have dictated that Van Niekerk’s navigator for the last three seasons, Gerhard Snyman, put down his notes for a while – though they will still do some regional events together on an ad hoc basis. In fact, the two will do ‘Zero Car’ duty on the final two days (January 22 and 23) of Classic Rally South Africa in Mpumalanga, as a shake-down and to make sure the driver is still in good nick.
“It is unfortunate that Gerhard is no longer available for national championship events, but he has decided to focus more time on his career,” explained Van Niekerk. “I must thank him for three very enjoyable seasons together, in which time we’ve become firm friends. Rallying is not just about what goes on in the car but also how you interact outside it. He has been great company – I’ve had some of the most memorable times of my motorsport career with him!”
Highlights include a second-place on the Cullinan Rally last year, and they also won Namibia’s gruelling Tara Rally in 2013 and again in 2014. Their overall position in the 2014 South African Rally Championship (their first full season in the Fiesta) was not a true reflection of their pace, with Van Niekerk missing two rounds due to obligations with his successful property development company. In one of those rounds Snyman navigated for double national champion Enzo Kuun in the second NAD Fiesta, the pair clicking immediately and finishing on the podium.
The team’s Fiestas are both clearly on the pace, and ahead of the start of the South African championship in the canefields of KZN on February 27 they’ll both be thoroughly refreshed by Thompson Racing, and given a full mechanical makeover. They’ll also get a vibrant new colour scheme.
Noble will fly to South Africa a week ahead of the event and immediately get to spend time alongside Van Niekerk. It will be their first acquaintance and the event will thus be a baptism of fire for both, which should make for an interesting weekend.