It is nothing new. Leeroy Poulter in a Toyota Yaris Gazoo rally car won the first stage of the 34th Volkswagen Rally that started in Port Elizabeth this afternoon. Altogether 31 cars have entered the event that is also being held in the 50th year of Volkswagen’s support for motorsport.
Only 12 of the entries are competing in the SA National Rally Championship and the rest in the Eastern Province regional championship.
Poulter won the stage in a time of 7:35.2. As expected Giniel de Villiers in the second Toyota finished the stage 7.3s behind Poulter with Ernie van der Walt also in a Toyota Yaris, third 21.6s behind Poulter.
Luke Botha in a Ford Fiesta was fourth 46.3s behind followed in fifth by the leading S1600 runner, Guy Botterill, in a Toyota Etios R2 +48.0.
AC Potgieter in a Volkswagen Polo R2 was up next +52.7s of the time of the leader.
It is the first time as long as the writer can remember that the National Championship has started with only twelve cars. Twelve is the minimum that is required for the competitors to score points in the championship.