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REVIEW - SA Rally 2009
31 Dec 2009
Nail-biting Sasol SA Rally championship saw two main protagonists fight it out in a final do or die battle |
If the racing wasn’t close enough on the tarmac for you then it certainly would have been on the dirt. It was clear from a few races in that the championship was about two men.
Reigning champion Hergen Fekken in His BP VW Polo and the latest contender Johnny Gemmell in the improved Castrol Toyota Auris. Gemmell got off to the best start with a win in the opening rally in KZN, thanks to some espionage by Enzo Kuun who tipped his Polo in the middle of the stage, holding up both his team mates for more than two minutes while his car was removed.
Fekken hit back on the next event with victory in the Toyota Dealer rally and a second in the Sasol Rally. The Sasol Rally was probably the pick of the rallies this season, the battle went down to the very end, with Gemmell staging a comeback of note to win the rally and keep the championship gap down to just two points.
Meanwhile in class N4 for production cars, Charl Wilken was showing the field a clean pair of heals, winning the opening six rallies and the championship for a second year running. His competition though fell by the wayside with closest rival Visser du Plessis out injured for most of the season and the other competitors not attending all the events.
Back in the premier class Fekken caught a break, notching up two victories in a row in Rally South Africa and the Volkswagen Rally. Gemmel dropped major points to his rival on both those events, only managing five points from the two rallies.
Much of Gemmell’s bad luck came down to the unreliability of the Auris. On both occasions, the Auris showed that it had an advantage over the VW’s until firstly enduring a failing shock absorber that slowed him and then on the second occasion the Auris developed a misfire that lost Gemmell the rally lead and victory.
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