|
Fekken Wins Swarland Thriller - 5 Apr 2009 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Fekken Wins Swarland Thriller - 5 Apr 2009
South African champion Hegen Fekken has won the Toyota Dealer Rally - round 2 of the Sasol South African Rally Championship run in the Cape Swartland.
|
BP Ultimate VW Polo driver Fekken bided his time in third Friday, keeping within ten seconds of duelling overnight leader Johnny Gemmell in the Castrol Toyota Auris and the second BP Polo of Jan Habig, moving into the lead Saturday morning after a dusty opening stage.
Habig fought back to reclaim the lead going into the final afternoon as the duelling VWs gradually edged away from the Toyota and in the end, Fekken scored a 9 second victory over Habig with Gemmel half a minute further back by the finish after having to contend with blinding dust Saturday morning.
“We got everything exactly right in the last stage, especially the corners. We hit every apex perfectly,” Fekken explained. “The car went well and even though the stage was very rough, it was also very fast. We hit everything flat out, it was a great event.”
“The battle with Hergen and Pierre went right down to the wire,” Habig added. “We had a good weekend and a really good race to the end - it was a good run.”
“It was incredibly dusty in the early morning and with no breeze at all to blow away the dust, I had to back off a couple of times or risking damaging the car”, Gemmell said. “At least we’re still in the championship lead, even if we now share it with Hergen.”
Gavin Cronje soldierd on to finish fourth in the second Castrol Auris, with Enzo Kuun a further 20 seconds adrift in the third BP Polo after both suffered int he standing dust of Saturday's first stage.
Japie van Niekerk won his rally-long duel with Productuon winner Charl Wilken - the S2000 Toyota finally taking 22 seconds out of the Sasol BizHub Subaru as Wilken clearly cruised home to a comfortable Production win from the similar Pirtek car of Visser du Plessis.
“I decided to adopt a smoother driving style and my co-driver told me he was bored!” du Plessis said. “So we pushed harder on Saturday and were rewarded with fastest times in class in the first two stages even though we were first car on the road, which is never easy as you sweep the route for your rivals behind you.
Class A7 was won for the second event in a row by Stevan Wilken in the Pannar VW Polo from Evan Hutchison in his Motorite Toyota RunX, while class A6 honours went to Mohammed Moosa in the Team Total Toyota Auris from reigning champion and team-mate Craig Trott and Robbie.
Volkswagen also took first and second in class A5 for the second event in succession with Gugu Zulu pipping BP Volkswagen CitiGolf team-mate Andre Cleenwerck on the final stage after Cleenwerck suffered a flat wheel and lost about three minutes after starting the stage 38 seconds ahead of Zulu.
Sasol SA Rally Championship Roud 2
Toyota Dealer Swartland Rally - Provisional Results
1. Fekken S2000 Volkswagen Polo 1:55:36
2. Habig S2000 Volkswagen Polo + 9
3. Gemmell S2000 Toyota Auris + 31
4. Cronje S2000 Toyota Auris + 1:45
5. Kuun S2000 Volkswagen Polo + 2:05
6. van Niekerk S2000 Toyota Run X + 3:45
7. Wilken N4 Subaru Impreza + 4:07
8. du Plesis N4 Subaru Impreza + 5:29 |
|
COPYRIGHT © 2000-2010 SPORTSPICS, all rights reserved.The photographs and images on this site are copyrighted internationally and a limited license for free publication use by newspapers (excluding Advertising) is granted provided the byline "SportsPics.co.za" is included with each and every image. For website use (excluding Advertising) a clickable link to "http://www.SportsPics.co.za" with the minimum text of "SportsPics.co.za" MUST be visible next to the image on the same page. If you leave in the SportsPics.co.za that is already displayed in the image, then you can just make the image a clickable link to "http://www.SportsPics.co.za".
