PoloDriver

Manitou Group Volkswagen Polo R2 co-driver Henry Kohne reflects on the recent Toyota Cape Dealer Rally, and how Paulus Franken and he achieved the Manitou Group’s best result to date

On the weekend of 19-20 September the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally took place in the Western Cape, South Africa. This was the sixth round of the 2014 South African National Rally Championship and taking place on the home ground of driver Paulus Franken and myself.

We were looking forward to a promising event as we felt confident competing in front of our home crowd.

The rally started on Friday afternoon at Imperial Toyota Cape Gate. The first day consisted of one gravel stage, followed by two asphalt stages at Killarney race track and two spectator stages back at Cape Gate.

On Saturday, the teams tackled gravel stages around the Malmesbury area and finished the event with a final 2km spectator stage and podium ceremony at the beautiful Meerendal estate.

Paulus and I posted consistent stage times and steered our Volkswagen Polo R2 to second in the S1600 class and eighth place overall. This is our best result to date, scoring valuable championship points with only two events remaining in the championship.

Paulus was pleased with our result: ‘Completing an event without any technical problems and with everything running smooth is a great feeling. Myself and my navigator really put a lot of work into our pacenotes and preparations for this event and will look to carry this momentum to the next event.’

That next event will be in Polokwane on 17-18 October 2014.

Thanks to the support we receive from Manitou Group, Volkswagen Motorsport and SASOL Racing. Follow us at: www.facebook.com/Manitougroupsarallyteam

[Image: Sue Vacy-Lyle]