Team Castrol Toyota’s two class S2000 Auris four-wheel drive rally cars finished day one of the Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally in third and sixth positions today after five special stages on gravel roads in the Carnival City area.
Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee again showed great pace, sharing the first stage honours with eventual overall winners for the day, Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (class S2000 Sasol Ford Fiesta), and winning stage three ahead of the Ford and leading overall by 5,6 seconds.
A punctured left front wheel on stage four lost them over 30 seconds and dropped them to third behind Cronje and the factory BP Volkswagen Polo of Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford. They fought back on the final 10,58 km stage of the day to take 2,4 seconds out of Cronje’s lead and eventually finish 26 seconds in arrears. Second, 7,3 seconds ahead of the Toyota was the factory combination of Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford in an S2000 Volkswagen Polo.
Castrol Toyota team-mates Johnny Gemmell and Drew Sturrock, who had the disadvantage of starting second on the road in the second Auris (compared to Poulter, who started ninth) and helping clear the way for the cars that followed, were up to fourth after the first two stages despite being slowed by a flat rear wheel for five kilometres at the end of stage two.
They dropped to ninth at the end of stage three, but fought back to sixth on stage four and held their position to the day’s finish at Carnival Toyota. The gap to their team-mates in third was 16 seconds and to the leaders 42 seconds.
“Leeroy was unlucky to pick up a puncture while leading, but starting third on the road for tomorrow’s nine stages might well be to his advantage,” said team principal Glyn Hall. “Johnny and had to contend with the worst of the rough conditions caused by recent rains in the area as he and the other early starters swept the route. It’s interesting to note that championship leader Conrad Rautenbach (Ford Fiesta), Hergen Fekken (Volkswagen Polo) and Charl Wilken (Ford Fiesta), who started first third and fourth, finished the day 10th, 11th and seventh respectively, all behind Johnny.
“Both cars are in good shape for tomorrow and expected conditions should favour their later starting positions.”
Saturday’s action starts at 07.30 from Carnival Toyota and ends with a super special stage at the RallyStar Motorsport Academy near Bapsfontein after eight stages and a total of some 99 km of racing on gravel roads in the Bapsfontein area.
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