Huge crash for Giniel in Cape rally

Published Sep 21, 2015

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Cape Town - Even a last-minute change of navigator couldn't prevent factory Ford driver Mark Cronje from posting an emphatic win at an incident-packed 2015 Toyota Cape Dealer Rally that saw both works S2000 Toyotas go out in spectacular crashes.

For his nearest competitors and championship leaders, Toyota crew Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee, it was weekend to forget. After damaging their Yaris on Friday in an altercation with a wall at the Killarney circuit, they had to push hard on Saturday to make up lost time.

They managed to move up to fifth by the end of Stage 8, but on the next stage Poulter hit a series of jumps at high speed, the car went end over end and rolled into a ditch next to the road - and that was the end of their rally.Their retirement swung the championship odds firmly back in Cronje's favour.

STING IN THE TAIL

Then stable-mates Giniel de Villiers and Carolyn Swan took themselves out of third - and out of the rally - with a spectacular multiple roll on the very next stage. That promoted experienced factory Volkswagen Polo crew Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries to a temporary third, which they promptly threw away by picking up a 20 second penalty for hitting a chicane on Stage 11.

The proverbial sting in the tail saw the demise of factory Volkswagen Polo crew Henk Lategan and Barry White - the only team to threaten Cronje and Snyman. Lategan and White won five stages on the trot in their attempt to catch the Ford crew and stood a real chance when Cronje was penalised 20 seconds for hitting the chicane in Stage 11, only to go out in the very last stage due to suspension failure.

That promoted their stable-mates Gugu Zulu/Hilton Auffray to second, while Cronje and new navigator Gerhard Snyman went on to finish the 13th and final stage for a total time of 1hr53m59.8s, 3m23s ahead of Zulu and Auffray - a huge margin in rallying terms.

With Lategan stuck in the final stage, Fekken and Arries claimed the last podium position, a further 28.5 seconds adrift. Lategan and White were classified fourth under Superally rules, but scored only half points.

STRANDED

At this stage Ford privateers Enzo Kuun and Kes Naidoo looked set for fifth - until the Fiesta's engine cried enough on the final stage, leaving them stranded 1,7km inside the stage and promoting privateer Toyota Yaris crew Ernie van der Walt (who was feeling under the weather with flu) and Greg Godrich to a career-best fifth, while Kuun and Naidoo were eventually classified sixth under Superally rules.

For Theuns Joubert and Mari van der Walt (Toyota Auris) consistency was the watchword on their run to seventh overall and first in class NRC4, followed by S1600 Class winners Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle (Toyota Etios R2) who, after an early battle with Richard Leeke and Rikus Fourie (Ford Fiesta R2), built up a huge lead to win by more than a minute from team-mates Matthew Vacy-Lyle and Schalk van Heerden in a borrowed Toyota Etios R2.

Third in class, but also finishing under Superally rules after suspension failure on their Ford Fiesta R2, were local racers Ashley Haigh-Smith and Nial Burns.

The only finishers in NRC2 were Etienne and Mauritz Malherbe (Datsun SSS) and Paul van Dyk and Quinton Swarts (VW Golf). Only 12 of the 34 starters made it to Parc Ferme at the finish.

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