Witbank based brothers, Nico and Juandré Nienaber, certainly kept their promise to remain entertaining in the rampant Born2Fly 510 ARC4 R2 Toyota Etios 1600. Gravel rally tyres do not last on asphalt but their sideways, totally committed style not only kept the crowd entertained, it gave them a second consecutive dominant overall victory in their recently adopted rally province.
The final results reflect three stage victories but it is actually four out of four as the SS3 winner was later penalised for running two laps short. The entire four stage event was run within the confines of the Aldo Scribante Raceway with n interesting mixture of asphalt and gravel. Combined with no wind and extreme heat overheating issues saw a number of teams suffer.
Nick Davidson and Ashley Bezuidenhout had their 522 ARC1 Davidson & Sons Toyota Auris 4×4 2.0 S2000 on song, but the car did not enjoy the tight sections and occasionally found itself running in “limp” mode. They will take second place on the chin this time, but the Nie”nabbers” better prepare themselves for a retaliation. Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie might not have needed the Hella assistance at Aldo Scribante but their rapid 4 ARC4 Hella VW Polo R2 1.6 refused to run cleanly through lefthand side corners (or was it that number on the door?) and they had to settle for third overall.
Absent on the occasion was the Van Zummeren trio and though general consensus had them preparing their cars for the Simola Hillclimb there were some rather interesting rumours for the future in the Border Towing camp.
Father and daughter, Johan and Juané Viljoen, as always on song in their 581 ARC3 Haz Petroleum VW Polo VW Polo 2.0 and they finished their day in a comfortable fourth overall. Gordon Nolan celebrating his return to the Eastern Cape scene with a fine fifth overall in his 551 ARC4 VW Polo R2 1.6 with young Timothy Hall as navigator (this time).
Oliver de Man and Ingrid Jeacocks enjoyed another fun day in the 577 ARC3 Ocean Truck Sales Toyota KE70 2.0 to finish sixth overall without falling off the embankments or losing wheels enroute. Brothers, Justin and Dane Langhein, sold their Toyota to Oliver de Man who rebuilt it into a rally car and the brothers bought it back to make the rallying debut at Aldo Scribante. 7th Overall quite impressive for the newcomers.
Deon Kretzmann and Jason Schreiber modified the circuit layout and found themselves on the wrong end of a 1min20 penalty and the 515 ARC4 Triple “L” Plant R2 Toyota Etios 1.6 dropped from a potential fourth to 8th overall. Traditionally any special stage consisting of laps is a nightmare for any CoC but Robyn Isaacs certainly did a great job acting on any discrepancies that arose from “shortcuts” on the day.
Riekus Schmidt and Marco Griessel still have not found a use for the middle pedal in their 513 ARC5 Ranger Motor Spares VW Polo 1.4i and somehow did not hit anything enroute to 9th overall. Francois Vermaak and Handré van Schalkwyk added a two minute early penalty to their total in the 584 ARC5 HTS Daniël Pienaar Onderwysers Span VW Golf MkI 1.4i to drop one spot into 10th overall with Martin Kleingeld Jnr and veteran Mark Irvine a single second later in 11th spot with the beautiful 535 ARC4 classic Toyota Corolla KE35 1.6. A car almost too beautiful to rally!
Crowd favourites Winston Marais and Henry Adams Decided that since they had to organise this event there was no reason why could not enjoy competing too and their 553 ARC3 Sybarix Recycling VW Beetle 2.0 responded with a popular 12th overall. They can even boast that they had beaten a Quattro! Okay, it was a slightly wounded Quattro, but the results do not reflect that and Paul van Wyk and Matt-Jason Köhler had to accept the fact that overheating drained the energy from their 469 ARC1 accDent Guru Audi S3 Quattro 1.8 Turbo and 13th spot overall was to be theirs after having cut SS3 short by two laps. The Western Cape duo certainly will be back to make amends.
Herman Bernhardt and Greg Heine still somehow make a strange sight in their 560 ARC3 Triple “L” Plant VW Polo 1.2 Turbo (much more accustomed to see him wagging the tail of hs Escort) but they were pleased to finish 15th overall. Smelling like something of bet it was the ladies combination of Belinda Ball and Tarryn van Rooyen in 16th spot with the 578 ARC4 Ocean Truck Sales Toyota Conquest RSi 1600.
The final classified finishers was Gauteng debutants, son and father Gerald and Paul Gouws) combination in their Tilton VW Polo 1.4i.
Brother and sister Ross and Roxanne Bartle did not enjoy a great day in the normally rapid 519 ARC3 Indy Oil VW Polo 2.0 and had to retire with gear linkage problems after SS3. Juan and Cailyn van Rooyen suffered electrical issues on their ex-Jono van Wyk 524 ARC4 Swazi Cowboy Racing Ford Fiesta R2 1.6 and could not complete SS4.
Jeandré Marais and fiancé Tegan Taljaard also had to retire after SS3 when their 547 ARC4 Motul VW Polo 1.6 cried enough whilst father and son Eddie and Eden Banks also did not make it beyond SS3 in their Toyota 2.0 powered 575 ARC3 BMW E36. Ruan van Tonder and Marius Rautenbach the final retirees in their 588 ARC5 Just Graphics VW Polo 1.4i after SS3.
If half the rumours prove to be true the national Algoa Rally end July 2025 is really going to prove that rallying in South Africa is certainly gaining momentum again.
Be There!
Published by: Patrick Vermaak
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.