Drama for Team Sasol in Cape Rally

Mark Cronjé and Robin Houghton emerged from the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally in a disappointed ninth place after surviving two drama-filled days that took their toll on the Team Sasol M-Sport-built Fiesta S2000s. 

Their championship challenge is very much alive even though they dropped 13 points to rally winner Conrad Rautenbach (in another Ford Fiesta) and are tied on the log with the factory Volkswagen of Enzo Kuun.

Mark is six points ahead on net scores and Robin five points ahead after round 7.

Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey drove the second Sasol Fiesta to seventh place overall, moving to seventh in the title race in his first season back in the sport after a two-year absence.

Mark and Robin paid the penalty for leading the SA Rally Championship going into the penultimate round by running first on the road in the opening day's stages. The Sasol Ford Fiesta S2000's radiator got clogged with grass seeds and bits of wheat, sending the under-bonnet temperatures to 123°C, forcing Mark to short-shift and not over-rev the engine.

"I ended up mowing the lawn in stage 2. I didn't think it would be that bad being first on the road," Mark related at the Cape Town finish. As night fell for the two tarmac stages, Mark claimed the second- and third-best stage times to end seventh overall, 26.7 seconds behind the leading Toyota.

The Sasol Fiesta pair was on a mission in Saturday's first stage, Mark taking no prisoners, but 8km into the 26km long stage, a puncture slowed their progress. 

"The tyre came off the rim and ripped the rear-panel off the car. I had to stop and we changed the tyre in less than two minutes," said Mark.

The pair dropped to 14th overall after losing 3:23 but there was not enough mileage left to make a big difference. Damage limitation saw Mark and Robin set two second-fastest and two third-fastest stage times over the remaining stages, enough to claw back an extra five championship points.

"That's unfortunately how this game works," Mark lamented. "Hero to zero in a nanosecond. The journey has been good this year and we have a good base to work from for next year, but there's still one to go and the team is going to work very hard to give me the best car they can so we can fight for the championship."

Jon and Cobus were left frustrated as their "Spec 1" engine and drive train ran out of steam on the long straights.

"It was like the equivalent of a Formula 1 pit lane speed limiter," smiled Jon. "The gearbox ratios were simply too short for the stages. The data shows we spent 28 seconds bouncing off the limiter and I was running 20km/h slower than Mark. I could carry serious speed through the corners but we got drilled on the straights. The car was well set up for the event and I enjoyed driving at home, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to get the result I wanted for Sasol and the team. I expected to be a bit behind but it was much worse than I thought."

The Fiesta had an instrument display failure in the first stage and a gearbox sensor failed, forcing Jon to use the clutch for gear changes instead of power-shifting, which cost vital seconds during the high-speed event.

"I can still make fifth in the championship which was my objective at the start of the year," said Jon as he looked ahead to the next event.

The final round of the SA Rally Championship takes place on 22 and 23 October in Polokwane.

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