Cullinan - Defending National Rally Champions Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris) will continue to chase down point leaders Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Performance Fiesta) at the Imperial Toyota Tshwane Motor Rally in Cullinan this weekend.
Poulter has scored two consecutive wins in the past two rounds and now trails Cronje by only nine points. Sasolracing-sponsored Polo driver Gugu Zulu will also look to take back third in the points tables from Poulter's team-mate Giniel de Villiers, who took the spot by claiming third at the previous event Port Elizabeth. Only 2.5 points separate the two.
In the S1600 class Matthew Vacy-Lyle and Schalk van Heerden (Fragram Tools Toyota Etios) will be defending their championship lead from Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne (Manitou Group VW Polo R2) and Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Yato Tools Toyota Etios).
Vacy-Lyle and Van Heerden is only 6.5 points clear of the VW pair, who in turn are only 1.5 points ahead of the Yato Tools crew, so one can expect the sparks to fly in this highly competitive class over the two day Tshwane event.
ROUTE & SCHEDULE
A ceremonial start on Friday, 14 August, will see the first car being flagged off from Fort Klapperkop in Tshwane at 12h00.
From there drivers will proceed to the Cullinan area where four stages will be run in very close proximity to the Zonderwater Correctional Services facility on the Friday afternoon. The rally headquarters and central service park will also be situated at the Zonderwater facilities.
According to clerk of the course Willie du Plessis these stages will be on excellent gravel roads and it “will afford spectators good opportunities to see the cars in action from safe vantage points without having to travel great distances”.
After the first four stages the cars will go into Parc Ferme at the Zonderwater facility and the rally will restart from there on Saturday morning at 09h00. The first car is expected at the finish at the Zonderwater Correctional Services facility at around 14h50 on Saturday afternoon.
The total distance of the compact event is 378km and the distance of the ten special stages approximately 167km.