Brian Joss –
Round seven of the South African National Rally Championship sees the Volkswagen Sasolracing team head to the Western Cape where 13 stages will take place during the two-day event. The question for this event is, which of the Volkswagen Sasolracing team will appear on the podium.
First it was Henk Lategan and Barry White who stepped on to the podium at the first round of the season. Gugu Zulu and Pierre Arries were on the podium at the Sasol Rally while Zulu and Hilton Auffray appeared on the podium together at round three. Most recently Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries made their first podium finish together, at round six of the championship.
Each of the Volkswagen Sasolracing team have produced podium results this season and the race is on to see which of them will be the next to do it again.
“The Volkswagen Sasolracing team has put in some very good performances this season,” says Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “In the final stages of 2015 I’m expecting further good results as we wind up the current season. The pace is there, the team is hard at work and the driver and navigator pairings are the right combination. We’ve got all the ingredients to end the season on a high note.”
For the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally which takes place on Friday and Saturday September 18 and 19, the Volkswagen Sasolracing team are prepared for a high-speed event. Friday sees the team compete at Killarney and the CapeGate shopping centre, completing four stages for the day.
Day two will have the team in the Malmesbury area with nearly 200km of competition on gravel roads, a rather different experience to the all-tar affair that is day one.
Rallies in the Western Cape have proved to be a challenging outing, with long, sweeping stages and technical, tight sections in the mix. With two very different rally surfaces being used on the event, rally teams are going to have to get their setup just right to maximise grip and performance on both days.
For this penultimate round of the national rally season, motorsport fans can look forward to seeing the Volkswagen Sasolracing team in flat-out action as the focus on their goal – achieving the very best results.
