Summarize

Extreme African weather has not been able to hold the Dunlop-shod South African National Rally Championship down as reigning Champions Benjamin Habig and Barry White tightened their grip on a back-to back crown with another dominant performance at the new format fourth round Gauteng GR Legends Rally over the weekend. 

Run as a traditional single round, rather than two separate events over two days for the first time in a few years, and in three separate new National, Regional and Club formats, the dusty Pretoria rally was added after the Tzaneen and Gqeberha rounds were delayed following more recent violent weather. None of that would however stop Habig and White from storming to a nine win rout over the National event’s thirteen stages through Friday and Saturday in their NRC 1 Volkswagen Polo.

The Swazi Cowboy, Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz took stages 7 and 9 off the flying defending champions en route to second overall, two minutes and seventeen seconds off the pace in their NRC 1 Volkswagen Golf. And Nico and Juandre Nienaber’s NRC1 Hyundai i20 1.6T won the other two stages 5 and 6 on their way to third overall, a further eight minutes further adrift. 

George Smalberger installed 1990s champion driver Etienne Lourens in the hot seat of his Volkswagen Polo en route the NRC3 win and front wheel drive honours. They held NRC2 winners Bruce Swatton and Craig Reynecke’s Polo off for a close fourth overall, with Rudolf Pretorius and Jack Radford sixth and second in NRC3 aboard their Polo. NRC2 runners, Mayur Patel and Colin Gander’s Subaru, Lynton Swatton and Tommy Coetzee’s Polo and Ismail Davids and Yusuf Ganief’s GR Yaris followed from the delayed Chris Coertse and Elzaan van der Schuyff Rally Technic NRC 1 Mazda2 in tenth.

Johan and Wallie de Bruyn took a memorable rear-wheel drive Saturday Gauteng Regional 1-3 in their NR2 Nissan 350Z, ahead of Johan Strauss and Kemaine Venter’s NR1 Subaru Impreza and Ashey and Leslie MacKenzie’s classic NR3 Ford Escort. Andre and Hanro Ehlers took NR4. And Rudolf Pretorius and Jack Radford’s National Polo beat MacKenzie’s Regional Escort and father and son Schalk van Heerden’s Datsun P510 to the three-stage Saturday afternoon GR Legends Club Rally win.

“The tough, dry and dusty GR Legends Rally not only tested crews, cars and our Dunlop gravel rally tyres to the very limit, but it also introduced a most appealing new format,” Dunlop Tyres South Africa strategic partner ATS Motorsport’s Heinz Böse explains. “Running as a traditional two day National once again for the first time in many years, it also gave Regional competitors a great one day rally on Saturday and introduced a three stage Club format on Saturday afternoon. 

“So congratulations to every crew who found success and also to the event organisers on a most appealing new format that promises to grow South African National, Regional and Club rallying back to its halcyon glory.”