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Volkswagen Sasolracing started the 2015 South African National Rally Championship as it meant to go on with a podium placing for Henk Lategan and Barry White. The two drivers scored a third place finish at the Tour Natal Rally, which kicked off in the KwaZulu-Natal area of the country.

Lategan was second overall in the 2014 championship with his co-driver Björn Degandt, and at the first round of the 2015 season his pairing with White netted them top five finishes during every stage of the Natal event. A third place at the end of day one ensured the duo started day two third on every stage running among the fastest teams.

‘Our pace notes for the rally were really good,’ said Lategan. ‘We made perhaps two small mistakes – which is nothing over a whole rally – but we were on it right from the beginning of the event. We were pushing 100 per cent here at the Tour Natal, driving well but with the frontrunners not making any mistakes either the pace didn’t allow us to make up any time on them,’ he continued.

Good pace
Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa was pleased his team’s result: ‘Two years of experience is now starting to show for Henk and Barry. They managed the rally very well and showed good pace. With our technical improvements for the Sasol Rally we will be in an even better space and expecting even better results there.’

Another new pairing, Gugu Zulu and Pierre Arries, achieved a sixth place finish in their newly-liveried Polo S2000 rally car. Zulu was reflective on the pair’s achievements: ‘A brand new car and navigator makes for a trying combination. Blind corners through the sugar cane and a slippery surface made the event difficult.

‘I’m glad we brought it home after a clean rally and gained the points. The car is fabulous and the team has worked hard during the off-season. Pierre and I need to work on a smoother rhythm in the car and we’ll be going into the Sasol Rally feeling really strong,’ he noted.

‘Gugu and Pierre’s results are very good for this event,’ said Rowe. ‘For their first rally together, and their first time in a left-hand drive car, they produced a surprising result, missing fifth place overall by just nine-tenths of a second. A solid result for the team overall.’


Out of contention
The final pieces in the Volkswagen Sasolracing, Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt weren’t so lucky. A roll on day one took them out of contention of the Tour Natal, but stoked up Weijs’ determination for the season.

‘We were getting quicker through the stages,’ he said. ‘We had good speed and I decided to push the pace a bit, but we went a little too far inside of the corner, caught the ridge at the side of the road and it pushed us over. It is disappointing, but I can tell you this – the next rally is mine!’

The next round of the 2015 South African National Rally Championship is the Sasol Rally in Mpumalanga on 17-18 April.

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In a familiar story and a repeat of the previous two wins from the same number of events, Volkswagen Motorsport driver pairing Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia emerged victorious at the third round of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Mexico. The South American group of stages which ran from 6-9 March was the 25th time the Polo R WRC has come out on top in the 29 WRC events it has started since 2013.

‘Perfect rally’
Described as a ‘perfect rally’ for the French pairing, Rally Mexico saw Ogier and Ingrassia finish in the top three driver pairings in 20 of the 21 special stages, taking the fastest time in nine of them. Leading from 5.61km in, the double world champions set the pace and never looked back. With new rules legislating that the championship leader starts the stages first, Ogier selected hard and soft tyres, turning his ‘sweeping’ disadvantage into a positive opportunity.

From then on, the duo displayed a truly flawless example of driving and navigating on the first of six consecutive gravel rallies. Run at over 1,800 metres above sea level, the WRC cars can be affected by the air at high altitudes, but this didn’t stop Ogier and Ingrassia, who promised a blistering pace by setting the fastest time at Shakedown before the rally around the Guanajuato area of the country got properly underway.

Ogier and Ingrassia didn’t relent and collected the three bonus points for the fastest time on the final run through the ‘El Brinco’ Power Stage, known for its popular and spectacular jump. The French drivers’ team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene picked up two extra points as they tamed El Brinco and finished second.

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Manitou Group SA Rally team co-driver Henry Kohne recalls how the 2015 South African National Rally Championship (SANRC) got off to a bang for the Vredenburg-based crew

The opening round of the South African National Rally Championship was on the weekend of 27-28 February in the KwaZulu-Natal, Scottburgh area and the Manitou Group SA Rally team managed to score a win in class S1600 with its Polo S1600 rally car.

Being the first event of the 2015 season, the Tour Natal Rally saw the top eight seeded teams have draw starting positions. Paul Franken and Henry Kohne drew number one, putting them first on the road.

‘Being the first front-wheel drive car on the road was a big challenge to me, with slippery road conditions we were very cautious on day one. We managed to pick up our pace throughout the event and at the end, our cautious approach seems to have worked for us as many teams were caught out by the slippery roads of Natal,’ said Paul Franken.

The Manitou Group team won three out of the eleven special stages in the S1600 class. This gave confidence at the beginning of the season to compete for more podium positions in the S1600 class.

‘We are pleased with our result on the Tour Natal Rally. To score maximum points at the beginning of the season will help a lot towards the Championship,’ added Franken.

The next event is the SASOL Rally in Sabie on the weekend of 17-18 April. The Manitou Group SA Rally team is supported by Manitou Group, Supa Quick Birchleigh, Volkswagen Motorsport and SASOL Racing.

[Image: Sue Vacy-lyle]

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The first round of the South African 2015 Engen Volkswagen Cup was dominated by the reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde when the season kicked off on 21 February. Van der Linde took victory in each of the three races at Zwartkops Raceway, the field driving new-for-2015 Volkswagen Polo Vivo GT racing cars fitted with Dunlop tyres.

Van der Linde set the pace from the off, posting the fastest time in the qualifying sessions. He then drew pole position in the six-lap race one, before finishing first in the following three races. Race one’s fight for second place was battled out between experienced Engen Volkswagen Cup drivers Tasmin Pepper and Mathew Hodges, with Pepper overcoming Hodges.

Race two saw Shaun La Réserveé take second place at the end of six laps, with Juan Gerber the first of the Masters drivers to cross the line and finish third. Pepper repeated the success of race one and came home second once again in the 12-lap race three, one place ahead of a consistent podium result Gerber. In the overall points for the day, van der Linde was at the top of the table, with Pepper close behind and La Réserveé in third.

The Masters overall win for the first round of the season was taken by Hodges with Gerber in second place and Trevor Bland in third. Gerber’s performance also saw him awarded the Driver of the Day for the Engen Volkswagen Cup championship – with a R1000 purse for his efforts. New racers to the 2015 series included Lyle Ramsay, Bradley Liebenberg, and Connor Rogers.

‘Changes to the Engen Volkswagen Cup championship to keep it fresh and relevant proved themselves here at round one of the season,’ said Mike Rowe,Head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘The Engen Volkswagen Cup racers competed in Volkswagen Polo Vivo GT guise for the first time and the field raced hard on their new Dunlop tyres.

‘The three-race format provided two short action-packed races and a longer feature race as well as a two-box draw kept everyone on their toes when Sheldon drew pole position. In all a very successful start to the new season,’ Rowe continued.

Round two of the 2015 Engen Volkswagen Cup championship takes place at Killarney in Cape Town on 11 April.

RACE RESULTS

Race 1

1 Sheldon van der Linde (1: Champion)
2 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass / Plastomark)
3 Mathew Hodges (M1: Makopano / Phoenix Signs / 959 Panelbeaters)

Race 2
1 Sheldon van der Linde (1: Champion)
2 Shaun La Réserveé (9: Alpine Motors / Oakley / Compendium Insurance)
3 Juan Gerber (M8: Haupt Racing)

Race 3
1 Sheldon van der Line (1: Champion)
2 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass / Plastomark)
3 Juan Gerber (M8: Haupt Racing)

OVERALL
1 Sheldon van der Linde (1: Champion)
2 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass / Plastomark)
3 Shaun La Réserveé (9: Alpine Motors / Oakley / Compendium Insurance)

MASTERS

Overall

1 Mathew Hodges (M1: Makopano / Phoenix Signs / 959 Panelbeaters
2 Juan Gerber (M8: Haupt Racing)
3 Trevor Bland (M2: PG Glass / Alpine Motors)

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A very tense and exciting Rally Sweden handed Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sébastien Ogier his second FIA 2015 World Rally Championship victory in as many events last weekend. The Frenchman fought off rally leader and team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in a tense and dramatic final stage of a rally which was full of spectacle and where the battle between the two Volkswagen drivers was down to the wire.

In the end, a possible loss of concentration saw Mikkelsen suffer an off during the final Power Stage, handing Ogier the win. Mikkelsen hit a snow bank with the rear of his Polo, forcing the front into the snow, whereupon the car just dug in further, costing the Norwegian time. The world champion’s win meanwhile made it the 20th time in 27 Power Stages that a Volkswagen driver has collected the maximum haul of three points up for grabs at the crucial final stage.

Fast and furious pace
It all started at Shakedown, with Ogier declared the fastest driver. Mikkelsen set out his stall from the very beginning, setting the fifth quickest time. Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was one place behind in sixth. After day one, Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene topped the overall placings, 19.1 seconds clear of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. The Norwegians had undoubtedly set the fast and furious pace among the metre-high snow banks lining the icy tracks.

The second loop saw Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia gain on the front runners, though, with the French pair taking the lead on stage two. However, a rare slip saw them hit a snow bank near on the ‘Torsby’ stage the end of the first day. A deficit of 24.7 seconds behind Mikkelsen saw them down the field, but still within reach of the top-scoring teams.

Latvala and Miikka Anttila also came to grief on the very same stage. Moving into the virtual lead, the Finns left the road and had to call on the event’s spectators for help to get them going once more. Dropping a total of nine minutes, Latvala slipped down the points table, eventually finishing the event in 12th place.

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