‘Bitterly disappointing’ start for champs
The opening round of the 2018 SA National Rally Championship brought disappointment for defending champions Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing SA crew, campaigning an updated version of their 2017 championship winning Class R2 Toyota Etios, were forced to retire on Stage 9 of the 2018 Trade Brands Tour Natal Rally.
“It was a bitterly disappointing start to the season,” said Botterill. “We had problems early on but sorted them out and were on course for a victory. Sadly, that’s not how it worked out.”
The Toyota works crew struggled with a small gearbox issue in the first two stages of the event on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.
Their technical crew managed to install a new gearbox during the 30-minute service after Stage 2, and Botterill/ Vacy-Lyle set about making up for lost time.
Stage 8 saw the Toyota Gazoo SA crew extend their lead to 15.3 seconds over the Ford Fiesta crew of Richard Leeke and Henry Köhne, but then disaster struck. “The car just suddenly lost all drive to the wheels, and we were forced to retire. We’re still not entirely sure of the cause, but we’ll investigate thoroughly when we get back to the workshop.”
The event was eventually won by Leeke/Köhne, with AC Potgieter/Nico Swartz (VW Polo) in second place and Matthew Vacy-Lyle/Schalk van Heerden (Toyota Etios) in third place.
Next up is Round 2 of the seven-round championship, the York Rally, which takes place in the area around Sabie on the weekend of April 20 and 21.