News from Pirtek Team Peugeot is that the team will be at full strength with both Peugeot 207 S2000s fully repaired after the misfortune experienced by the team in the Total Tour Natal Rally. This will add an element of excitement to the Sasol Rally with an opportunity for rally fans to see these two highly competitive cars in action for what will effectively be the first time in South Africa. A bonus is that the Sasol Rally is within easy reach of Gauteng and offers excellent opportunities for spectating.
Visser du Plessis had no testing time available to him before the Natal event as the purchase and shipping of his car from a team in Portugal was only finalised a couple of weeks before the event. Visser had no option but to try the car out for the first time in the shakedown stage prior to the event. He had the misfortune to roll the car, not catastrophically, but did enough damage to sideline his entry for the event.
“At this early stage in the season and with the car still so new to us we didn’t have sufficient time nor all the spares we needed to repair the car for the event,” says Visser du Plessis. “When we took the car back to the workshop in Johannesburg a full damage assessment showed that the car wasn’t too badly damaged – mostly panel damage really – and quite easily sorted in the panel shop.
“The team has put in a huge amount of time and effort and with excellent parts backup from Peugeot South Africa we will be at the Sasol Rally with a car that is good as new. As ever it would have been nice to have some testing time available but the car is so inherently good that I’m optimistic for a good performance in the forests around Sabie and Nelspruit.
Hein Lategan’s all new car arrived in Natal with little time for testing and was effectively driven for the first time in the shakedown stage in Natal. There Hein quickly adapted not just to the left-hand drive setup, but also the very different handling and driving characteristics of the Peugeot.
“Probably the best way to describe the Peugeot 207 S2000 is ‘very sharp’ in every department,” says Hein. “The car is very responsive to every little input and is a joy to drive. I was perhaps a little cautious with my position on the road at first, driving on the ‘wrong’ side but the driving position is really not an issue.
“This is really a fun car to drive and while we didn’t see its full potential in Natal, I was very happy with my first few stage kilometres in the car. I was very cautious at first but was still potentially on the pace.
“The problem that we had in Natal was traced to a broken alternator lead. This meant that the battery voltage dropped off quite quickly and to a point that the electric water pump stopped circulating the coolant and that caused the engine to overheat.
“Peugeot Sport asked us to send the engine back to them in France so that they could examine it. They have been really helpful and with their assistance we will have a brand new engine for the Sasol Rally. They will again have an engineer (from France) in attendance to assist us.
“We would have liked to have had an opportunity to do more testing but we know that the car was quite well sorted in Natal and other than the engine was really still like new after only one stage. I’m confident that we will be competitive in the Lowveld.”
STORY BY SASOL
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