Zimbabwean privateer Conrad Rautenbach and French navigator Nicolas Klinger (Ford Fiesta S2000) came out on top of a nail-biting duel with multiple former champions Jan Habig and Robert Paisley in a factory VW Polo S2000 in the closing stages of the Tour Natal Rally on Saturday afternoon.
The winning margin at the end of the opening round of the 2011 South African Rally championship, run over two days and 14 special stages on kwaZulu-Natal's South Coast, was only 8.2sec after 14 special stages and 155km of rallying, most of it on gravel. Third, 44.1sec behind the winners, were Habig's factory VW team mates and defending champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson in another Polo S2000.
Former champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries were fourth in the third works Polo Polo, 2min06.8 behind the winning Ford. Privateers Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Carolyn Swan finished fifth in a Toyota RunX S2000, 21.4sec ahead of Nicholas Ryan and Geoff Tyrer in a private VW Polo S2000.
Making up the top 10, all of whom were competing in the premier Super 2000 class for two-litre, all-wheel drive cars, were Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey in the second Ford Fiesta, stage rally debutant and 2009 Dakar Rally winner Giniel de Villiers and navigator Ralph Pitchford in the fourth factory VW, privateers Japie van Niekerk and Dave Lewkowitz (VW Polo), and Johnny Gemmell and Drew Sturrock in a factory Toyota RunX.
Gemmell was fifth at the end of the first day, but dropped back on stage 11 with a puncture that cost him nearly four minutes. Team mates Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee impressed in their first outing together in the second factory Toyota Auris, running as high as fifth before they hit a rock and broke a tie-rod on stage eight.
Rautenbach started Saturday fourth after finishing 28.2sec behind Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Fiesta) on Friday, but quickly closed the gap to the leader to 13.9sec after winning the opening two stages of the day.
Cronje, in his debut appearance in the brand new Ford, dominated on Friday and won all five stages. He lost his lead on Saturday on stage 10 after the Ford landed on its nose over a yump and damaged its cooling system. He dropped back to second and then retired after the next stage when he clipped the edge of a bridge and broke a rear wheel.
Habig then took up the challenge, after starting the day 10.7sec behind Rautenbach. He won stages 10 and 12 and led the Zimbabwean by a tenuous 0.3sec with only one 11km gravel stage and a one-kilometre tarmac stage in Amanzimtoti remaining. An engine misfire on the penultimate stage and a blistering stage-winning performance by the Zimbabwean saw Habig drop 7.4 sec behind Rautenbach, who then sealed his victory in style with third-fastest time on the final short stage.
Ashley Haigh Smith and Hilton Auffray comfortably won the new Super 1600 class (formerly A6) in a new Ford Fiesta by 34.5sec from Tjaart Conradie and Kes Naidoo's Toyota Auris.
The new Super 1400 class (formerly A5) was won by the only finishers in the class, Megan Verlaque and Lirene du Plessis (VW Polo), and there were no finishers in class A7, where reigning champion Gugu Zulu and navigator Carl Peskin led at the end of the first day in a factory VW Polo. A leaking gearbox on Friday could not be fixed before Saturday's re-start, however, and they called it a day.