Rally racing returns to Free State

The 2016 South African Rally Championship will start with a brand new event this weekend, when the first Goldfields Motor Rally will be held in the area around Welkom.

The event, to be run over a racing route of 162 kilometres, will be the first rally held in the Free State for six years. Heading the entry list will be defending South African champion Mark Cronje – now in a Volkswagen Polo S2000 – with Barry White reading the notes.

White has recent World Rally Championship and European Rally Championship experience, having sat alongside Henk Lategan in last year’s Monte Carlo and Portugal WRC rounds. Cronje is a triple South African champion, having earned the crown in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

It will interesting to see what a driver of his calibre can do with the Polo, which failed to set the world alight over the past three years. Toyota, now running under the Gazoo Racing banner, has entered the 2014 champion pairing Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee in a refettled Yaris S2000.

Giniel de Villiers and Carolyn Swan will team up once again in the second Gazoo Racing Yaris S2000. Neither driver needs introduction to local motorsport fans.

De Villiers won the 2009 Dakar Rally and finished on the podium of the 2016 edition, while Poulter ended Dakar 2016 in fifth place at his third attempt. Poulter is also the reigning South African Cross Country racing champion, in a Toyota HiLux.

Free State fans will be cheering for their local hero, 22-year-old Ernie van der Walt and co-driver Greg Godrich, driving their Vecto Petroleum Toyota Yaris S2000. The Van der Walt family is well known in the area and the driving force behind the event being run in and around Welkom and Riebeeckstad.

Ford fans will be able to cheer Namibian Wilro Dippenaar and his Capetonian co-driver Kesevan Naidoo, now in a PZN Panelbeaters Ford Fiesta S2000. If Dippenaar maintains his 2015 form, expect him to rattle the cages of the big-name drivers.

The NRC4 class, for older fourwheel drive machinery, will see defending champions, Theuns Joubert and 18-year old Mari van der Walt (Salom Group Toyota Auris) in a three-way battle for class honours. Out to stop them, in a beautifully prepared Mitsubishi Evo VIII, are returnees Rocky Reyneke and Christo Ackermann.

The Hencom Panelbeaters-backed team is well known in the sport, going back to the turn of the previous decade when Reyneke was a regular competitor.

Jose de Gouveia/Armand du Toit round out the class in their competitive Toyota RunX. In class Super 1600 for twowheel drive cars with 1600cc engines, the defending champions, Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy Lyle (Liqui-Moly Toyota Etios R2) head up an eight car fight.

Paulus Franken and new co-driver Pierre Arries (Volkswagen Polo R2) will most likely be Botterill’s closest challenger. Arries, the 2008/9 co-driver’s rally champion, is putting his career aside to help groom the ‘next generation’.

AC Potgieter/Tommy Du Toit return for another crack at the title in their VW Polo R2, as does Cape Town-based Ashley Haigh Smith and co-driver Niall Burns. Both are quick on the day, and given solid reliability, will be contenders for victory and keep the champions honest.

Andrew Heine/Lloyd Brady are hoping to turn their 2015 annus horribilis on its head and post some competitive results. Chris Coertse/Robbie Coetzee are familiar names on the rally scene in the orange and white Electrothread Toyota Etios R2.

Richard Leeke is another quick youngster, now teamed with Henry Kohne in his ATS Ford Fiesta R2. George Smalberger/Chris Brand have upgraded their car to a shiny new Polo R2, with Shied Car Care backing.

The 2006 Production Car Rally Champion, Nicholas Ryan, returns to the sport in a class NRC2 Polo with Rowan Robbertse alongside for the ride. Marko Himmel is a surprise entry, now in a Ford Fiesta R2, sitting alongside Nico Swartz.

Rounding out the entries is Louis Venter/AN Other in an aging Toyota Tazz. An additional 13 Northern Regions rally entries are expected to make the journey south.

The rally will kick off with pre-event formalities at the Phakisa Freeway from Friday at lunchtime, where the cars are checked for safety and rules compliance. By 5pm, all cars will be in a prestart holding area, where fans can mingle with drivers and view the cars up close.

The event will start at 5.30pm, with a stage around the Phakisa Freeway circuit – including the infield section – before moving to the centre of Welkom for a 1.2km night stage, starting at 7pm. Saturday’s nine stages are grouped in pairs.