Gavin Cronje’s debut appearance in the Sasol SA Rally Championship didn’t last long – two special stages to be exact – but it was enough to get his adrenalin going and convince him that he’d made the right decision.  One of South Africa’s most versatile motor sportsman, he is a past national karting and Formula Volkswagen champion and international karting and sports car champion and the closest he’d come before to rallying was a season in national championship off road racing in a bakkie.

“I loved my first rally experience.  I’m really excited about it and if I could get back in the car tomorrow I would,” he enthusiastically exclaimed.  “It was a very brief experience, but it was enough to convince me that it was more than worth the trouble and expense to tackle the opening round of the championship at such short notice.  It was very different to anything I’ve done before and I know I have a lot to learn.  I’m grateful to Volkswagen for making a car available to me and to Motorite Racing for including me in their team.”

Cronje and co-driver Van Aardt Schoeman tackled the Tour Natal in the cane fields on the north and south coasts of KwaZulu Natal in a class A7 Motorite Racing Volkswagen Polo.  Despite power steering problems in the very first special stage, they found themselves only 20 or so seconds behind the fastest car in the class.  The steering rack burst its oil seals as they came into the service point at the end of the stage and the Motorite Racing service crew disconnected the power steering.  This appeared to lead to an alternator problem, slowing the pair even further as the Polo lost power.

“It was very difficult to steer the front-wheel drive Polo with no power steering and when the alternator belt came off during the stage and the engine dies on us, we reluctantly decided to call it a day,” said Cronje.  One of the more irrepressible and fun-loving competitors around, the 30-year-old was not disheartened.

“I’m happy with my first effort at rallying.  With no power steering and a down-on-power engine we dropped only around 30 seconds on the second stage.  I think there’s a lot to come from Van Aardt and me.  We’re going to get in some practice before the next round in Cape Town and try to catch up a bit.”

The next round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship is the Toyota Dealer Rally in the Western Cape on March 26 and 27.

Issued on behalf of Gavin Cronje by Peter Burroughes Communications.  For further information, please contact Peter Burroughes, tel 082 899 0101, e-mail bowtie@iafrica.com.