TOYOTA SCORES 101ST RALLY VICTORY
IN THE MTN POLOKWANE RALLY
AND 14TH SUCCESSIVE MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
Toyota notched up its 101st national championship rally victory on Sunday when Leeroy Pouter and Elvene Coetzee won the season-ending MTN Polokwane Rally in the Limpopo bushveld in their Castrol and Innovation Group-backed Super 2000 class Toyota Auris. Toyota also won its 14th successive manufacturers’ championship.
It was the pair’s second win of the season after their debut victory in the Sasol Rally in Mpumalanga in April, which marked Castrol Team Toyota’s century of successes. They completed the two-day inaugural event’s 14 gravel and two short tar stages over a total distance of 206 km in a time of 2 hr 8 min 46,4 sec.
It was also a fitting end to a fine all-round performance by the young team who only came together this year in the top, four-wheel drive class of rallying. Poulter graduated to S2000 after winning the Super 1600 class in 2010, his first year in the sport of gravel stage racing.
Second, 2,7 seconds behind after two days of close competition in hot and dusty conditions, were Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Fiesta) with former champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries third in a Volkswagen Polo a further 2,8 seconds in arrears.
Johnny Gemmell and Scottish co-driver Drew Sturrock were ninth in the second Castrol Team Toyota Auris after leading early on Friday before being slowed by drive shaft problems which saw them complete the first day’s nine stages in 10th place.
Poulter, a former circuit racing champion, and Coetzee won four of Friday’s nine stages and led former national champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries (Volkswagen Polo) at the overnight stop at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane by the slim margin of 2,8 seconds.
He held off a strong Sunday challenge from Fekken, Cronje and Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach (Ford Fiesta), who won three of the morning’s eight stages,
Poulter could have finished even further ahead had he not sportingly stopped to assist his team-mates on Friday. With Gemmell and Coetzee one of four crews still in contention for the championship at the start of the day, Poulter responded immediately when Gemmell experienced power steering problems on stage four while lying second to Poulter. He stopped on the side of the road between stages to help Gemmell replace a broken power steering pump fitting with the fitting from his own car.
He lost half a minute in the next stage as he battled without power steering, but recovered most of this time with back-to-back wins on stages six and seven, Meanwhile, Gemmell ran into more trouble when a front drive shaft broke and he dropped a minute, falling back to sixth and 48 seconds behind Poulter.
Gemmell suffered another drive shaft failure on stage seven and Poulter suffered the same fate on the penultimate stage of the day.
“Leeroy and Elvene thoroughly deserved their second win of the year,” said an elated team principal, Glyn Hall. “He drove like a true champion and showed he is a great team player with his selfless act on Friday. Johnny and Drew were again unlucky. A Castrol Toyota 1-2 was very much on the cards.”
Poulter was relieved at the end of a fast and energy sapping rally. “It was hard work, but we managed to pull it off for the team today. It was always my goal to be better with each event in my first year in the S2000 class and I think I have achieved this. Next year my goal will be to win the championship.”
With the results of June’s Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally subject to the outcome of a Motorsport South Africa court of appeal hearing, provisional results give the 2011 title to Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton. Poulter finished the season fourth and Gemmell fifth in the drivers’ championship, while Sturrock was fourth in the co-drivers’ championship and Coetzee fifth.
Toyota provisionally won the manufacturers’ championship with a total of 906 points amassed over the eight rounds, 95 ahead of second-placed Volkswagen. Ford was third with 750 points.
Toyota Acknowledges Its Sponsors, Specialist Official Suppliers and Technical Partners
Toyota enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with Castrol (lubricants), Innovation Group (specialist provider of software and outsourcing solutions), NGK (sparkplugs), IMPERIAL Toyota Group, SKF (bearings), Ferodo (brake pads), Spanjaard (lubricants), Edgecam (machining software specialists) and Donaldson (filtration solutions).
24th October 2011
