Botterill, Vacy-Lyle show class
ERMELO RALLY: TOYOTA GAZOO CREW UNSTOPPABLE AS THEY CLAIM SA CHAMPIONSHIP
Second place good enough to secure second overall title.
Toyota Gazoo crew Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle claimed their second overall South African rally championship – and fifth consecutive 1 600cc title – during a drama-filled Ermelo Rally at the weekend.
Needing to finish third or higher in the event to clinch the year’s title, they drove their Toyota Etios R2N to second place, ending 0.7sec behind rally winners Richard Leeke/Elvéne Vonk in their Speedglas Ford Fiesta R2N.
Title rivals AC Potgieter/Nico Swartz (Lake Umuzi Volkswagen Polo R2N) effectively eliminated themselves in the event’s first special stage.
They ploughed through a barbed wire fence and the wire severed a brake pipe, which cost the Secunda pair 26sec.
They did roadside repairs which saw them arrive at the next time control five minutes late.
That earned them a 50-sec penalty, dropping them to eighth overall, 1min 24sec from where they needed to be.
Botterill took command of the 15-stage rally from the first speed test, building a 25-sec lead after stage nine.
Mindful of his end game and given the roughness of some of the stages which eliminated half the field, plus Potgieter’s fading challenge, he eased off the Etios’ load pedal.
Potgieter lost another five minutes with a puncture in the morning loop of stages, sealing his championship fate, barring a catastrophic event happening to Botterill.
Leeke/Vonk made a play for the lead over the final five stages, trimming the Toyota pair’s advantage on every stage until, with two stages remaining, Leeke snatched a slender 0.4-sec lead with 5km of the rally remaining.
In the final stage, Leeke beat Botterill by 0.3sec to win the battle. Third overall went to JJ Potgieter/Tommy du Toit (Vecto Ford Fiesta R2N) after repairing a broken gear lever on stage eight.
Namibian Marko Himmel/ Francois Schoonbee (King Price VW Polo R2N) ended fourth overall after brother Thilo and co-driver Armand du Toit retired their Star Body Shop Toyota Etios R2N with transmission problems in stage 12.
Tjaart Conradie/Kes Naidoo (Silverton Engineering Toyota Etios R2N) ended fifth overall, sealing fourth place in the final championship standings.
AC Potgieter was finally classified sixth, ahead of Mathew Vacy Lyle/Matt Kohler (Yato Tools Toyota Etios R2N).
Vacy-Lyle survived two broken engine mounts, which also broke the brake master cylinder each time, plus a broken shock absorber which caused the car to run low, puncturing the sump twice before nurturing his overheating engine through the final stage.
Jose Ferreira/Pierre Jordaan won the Open Class in their Q4 Fuels Subaru Impreza GT after Rory Eland/ Robbie Coetzee retired their similar Subaru with transmission problems.
Etienne Malherbe/Raj Jutley (Datsun 1600 SSS) won the Classic class from Ashley/Les McKenzie (Ford Escort Mk 1).
Other retirements included Jono van Wyk/Barry White (Swazi Cowboy Ford Fiesta R2) after ripping the suspension off in the rally’s first stage. Clint Weston/ Christoff Snyders retired their Citroen C2 R2 with suspension problems.