Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton powered their Team Sasol Ford Fiesta to a dominant win on the Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally, round 4 of the SA Rally Championship. It was Team Sasol’s - and Robin Houghton’s - maiden win, made all the more impressive by the 90 second victory margin after taking the fastest time on six of the event’s 14 stages.
Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey were not as lucky in the sister Team Sasol Ford Fiesta. 8th overnight, the young Cape Town driver was pushing hard to make up time when he overshot a corner and rolled out of the event.
Mark led from the start, losing it briefly to Toyota’s Leeroy Poulter after stage 3, only to re-take it in stage 4. Day one ended with the Sasol pair 18.7 seconds to the good, nearly doubling it to 34 seconds after Saturday’s opening 17km stage while running first on the road.
Mark built his win from the opening stage, focusing on keeping his driving neat. “I saw immediately that we had the pace without taking any chances. The car was perfect and there were no gremlins at all. On Saturday, I was really committed in the first stage and took a few risks but it paid off. After we built the lead to over 30 seconds, I relaxed the pace a bit, just concentrating on keeping things neat and tidy”.
“As the rally neared the end, I got really nervous listening out for strange noises. I thought I took it too easy in the last stage and was really surprised to see we won the stage. It’s great for the team who has worked tirelessly to prepare a winning car and this victory is as much theirs as it is ours”, said the elated driver.
For Robin Houghton, his first ever national rally win was a big moment. “I’ve finally got the monkey off my back – it’s about time! It was a nerve-wracking day but Mark drove exceptionally well. There were a couple of minor overshoots but nothing serious. Hopefully, this is the first of many”.
On a rally characterized by numerous accusations of short-cutting the route, Jon was disappointed. “Half the field was taking short cuts but the organizers picked on me. I handed in my in-car footage to show I stuck to the route. It cost me badly because teams from lower down were taking huge chunks of time off me. It was frustrating to be so far down because by now I should be fighting to be on the podium”.
Jon continued: “On the repeated stages we followed the tracks already there or we would have lost as much time again. I was highly frustrated and felt I was cheated out of my rightful position. Rallies have been settled by seconds, and I was over a minute down after five stages!”
Making up time on Saturday, Jon and Cobus set two second-fastest stage times before disaster struck in stage 12. Jon explains: “I passed Conrad (Rautenbach) and Hein (Lategan) in the previous stage and was happy I could do the times with the older ‘B-spec’ engine we have. I was flying and lining up to take a fast corner, but had bad understeer. I tried to turn in and went through long grass which hid a mound of earth. I thought the car would jump over it but the right front wheel dug in, the tyre came off the rim and we went over. I was less than half a metre from missing the bump”.
He added: “I’m really happy for Mark and Robin and Team Sasol. We are a new team with new cars and technicians and to win our 4th rally is awesome. It shows that privateers are competitive with the big factory teams and we are real championship contenders”.
Dean Somerset, Sasol’s head of Motorsport Sponsorships said: “Team Sasol’s victory is a result of a consistent and focused team effort from the beginning. Mark’s and Robin’s skills perfectly match the technology and high performance of the Sasol-sponsored S2000 Fords. I have no doubt that the team will be able to keep the momentum going for the balance of the championship”.
STORY BY SASOL
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