After a lengthy seven-week break the fourth and halfway round of the South African National Rally Championship, the Volkswagen Rally, gets underway with a ceremonial start from VW’s Auto Pavilion in Uitenhage at midday today.
With the top eight seeded drivers at the beginning of the season taking it in turns to be first on the road over the eight rounds of the championship – generally regarded as being a disadvantage because your car sweeps the road of loose sand and stones and creates an easier surface for the cars behind – this time it is the turn of privateers Japie van Niekerk and Gerhard Snyman (New Africa Developments Ford Fiesta) to lead the way.
Seeded eighth at the start of the season, they will proceed to the start of the first of today’s seven special stages, a brand new 16-kilometre gravel stage on the property of the PE Oval race track at Greenbushes, which will take place at 12:23. A further four gravel special stages, including two in the Longmore Forest, will follow before the day’s competitive driving ends in the coastal resort town of Jeffrey’s Bay with two, short tarmac stages, the first at the Fountains Mall and the second in the town’s streets, starting at 17:47.
Defending champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Dealer Team Fiesta), top seeds going into round one, will be next off the ceremonial start ramp in Uitenhage and will start the opening stage two minutes after Van Niekerk and Snyman. They will be followed at two-minute intervals by current championship leaders Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris), the Dutch/Belgian duo of Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn Degandt (Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo), Giniel de Villiers and Greg Godrich (Imperial Toyota Yaris), Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin (VW Sasolracing Polo), Hergen Fekken and Carolyn Swan, joint championship leaders in the second Castrol Team Toyota Yaris and Henk Lategan and Barry White (VW Sasolracing Polo).
Saturday’s action will start from the overnight parc ferme at the PE Oval in Greenbushes with the overnight leaders and runners-up due to get proceedings underway at 07.48 on a brand new, two-kilometre superspecial stage at the PE Oval, where competitors race against each other two at a time.
Six more gravel stages will follow, including three in the Longmore Forest, before a final two-kilometre stage on tar and paving around the environs of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. The first car is due to start the final stage at 13.53.
The TV podium finishing ceremony and prize-giving outside the stadium will start at 16.00.
CAR NO ENTRANT DRIVER LIC NO CO-DRIVER LIC NO CLASS CAR MODEL START TIME
1 12 Gerhard Snyman Japie van Niekerk 1673 Gerhard Snyman 6905 S2000 Ford Fiesta 12:00
2 24 Ford Dealer Team Mark Cronje 6152 Robin Houghton 6150 S2000 Ford Fiesta 12:01
3 23 Team Castrol Toyota Leeroy Poulter 6898 Elvene Coetzee 6092 S2000 Toyota Yaris 12:02
4 22 Volkswagen Sasolracing Hans Weijs Jnr 16714 Bjorn Degandt 16717 S2000 VW Polo 12:03
5 31 Team Castrol Toyota Giniel de Villiers 4236 Greg Godrich 7072 S2000 Toyota Yaris 12:04
6 8 Volkswagen Sasolracing Gugulethu Zulu 7036 Carl Peskin 4117 S2000 VW Polo 12:05
7 25 Team Castrol Toyota Hergen Fekken 6869 Carolyn Swan 3586 S2000 Toyota Yaris 12:06
8 11 Volkswagen Sasolracing Henk Lategan 6751 Barry White 10514 S2000 VW Polo 12:07
9 7 Volkswagen Sasolracing Raimund Baumschlager 1009 Klaus Wicha TBA S2000 VW Polo 12:08
10 17 Volkswagen Sasolracing Thilo Himmel 6770 Armand du Toit 6125 S2000 VW Polo 12:09
11 21 Wilro Dippenaar Wilro Dippenaar 3347 Kes Naidoo 3851 S2000 C Toyota Auris 12:10
12 71 Schalk v Heerden Guy Botterill 6476 Simon Vacy-Lyle 5450 S1600 Toyota Etios R2 12:11
13 65 Ashley Haigh-Smith Ashley Haigh-Smith 1732 Damien van Ass 30412 S1600 Ford Fiesta R2 12:12
14 96 Richard Leeke Richard Leeke III 8528 Rikus Fourie 7102 S1600 Ford Fiesta R2 12:13
15 67 Henry Kohne Paul Franken 2336 Henry Kohne 3121 S1600 VW Polo R2 12:14
16 98 Nico Swartz Charl van Beurden 3133 Nico Swartz 7812 S1600 VW Polo R2 12:15
17 63 Simon Vacy-Lyle Matthew Vacy-Lyle 24851 Schalk van Heerden 6902 S1600 Toyota Etios R2 12:16
18 95 Ernie vd Walt Ernie van der Walt 3804 James Aldrige 18077 S1600 Ford Fiesta R2 12:17
19 72 AC Potgieter AC Potgieter 17187 Tommy du Toit 7798 S1600 VW Polo R2 12:18
20 77 Andrew Heine Andrew Heine 3396 Robbie Coetzee 6718 S1600 VW Polo R2 12:19
21 88 Team Electrothread Chris Coertse 9126 Mari van der Walt 16161 S1600 Toyota Etios R2 12:20
22 504 Mauritz Malherbe Etienne Malherbe 10313 Mauritz Malherbe 10312 NRC2/S3 Datsun 160U SSS 12:50
23 555 Bryan Heine Bryan Heine 2882 Keith Heine 9721 NRC2/S3 Datsun SSS Coupe 12:51
24 86 Dolf Coetzee Dolf Coetzee 7864 Tommy Coetzee 7887 NRC2/TBA Toyota Toyota 12:52
25 502 Rikus Schmidt Rikus Schmidt 3355 Stephno Pieterse 3356 Reg/S2 VW Polo 12:53
26 520 Iddo Steyn Iddo Steyn 3735 Mark Irvine 3452 Reg/S3 Ford Escort 12:54
27 519 Ross Bartle Ross Bartle 3196 Rick J van Rensburg 10977 Reg/S3 VW Polo Vivo 12:55
28 543 Neels Vosloo Neels Vosloo 13865 Kevin Futcher 24772 Reg/S3 Nissan Sentra 12:56
29 547 Nico Smith Nico Smith 9480 Roxanne Bartle 10947 Reg/S3 VW Polo 12:57
30 586 Jono Stephen Jono Stephen 10216 Karl Steeg 14545 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 12:58
31 522 Darren Murphy Darren Murphy 3978 Gavin Murphy 16318 Reg/S3 VW Citi Golf 12:59
32 505 Wesley Heine Wesley Heine 29491 Chris Johnson 30589 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 13:00
33 512 Rufus Neethling Rufus Neethling 4763 Henry Adams 9725 Reg/S1 VW Golf 13:01
34 528 Pierre van der Berg Pierre van der Berg 7646 Riaan van Huyssteen 31458 Reg/S3 VW Polo 13:02
35 511 Megan Heine Megan Heine 14532 Ryan Clarke 14532 Reg/S1 VW Polo 13:03
36 587 Louis Aylward Louis Aylward 31868 Sean Steyn 31959 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 13:04
37 598 Ashley Bezuidenhout Ashley Bezuidenhout 4184 Paul Gillard 100319 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 13:05
38 551 Gregory Heine Gregory Heine 10097 Gary Heine 10189 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 13:06
39 507 Melissa Heyman Melissa Heyman 14522 Anza Muller 9389 Reg/S1 VW Citi Golf 13:07
VOLKSWAGEN RALLY 2014
11 / 12 July