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proud when he took a credible third place in the Sasol Rally which was held here over the weekend.
The two-day Sasol Rally, which was staged on Friday and Saturday in and around Nelspruit, which is about 375km outside Johannesburg and 190km from the Mozambican capital Maputo, was the second round of the eight-legged 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series.
The event was also round two of the eight-round 2011 South African National Rally Championship series.
Rautenbach has entered to race in these both tough events this year, competing under the G-Fuel Team in a G85 ethanol-powered Ford Fiesta S2000.
The soft-spoken 26-year-old driver came here leading four Zimbabwean drivers who included Jamie Whyte, Craig Green and young Chase Attwell. Like Rautenbach, Whyte and Green are both registered for this year’s ARC series while Atttwell is not.
And Rautenbach outshone his three other fellow Zimbabwean drivers by finishing in third place in the weekend’s Sasol Rally which was won by South Africa’s Leeroy Poulter in a Toyota Auris.
Another top South African motor rallying driver Johnny Gemmel, who was also in a Toyota Auris, came second ahead of Rautenbach. Rautenbach’s colleague Whyte, who is the reigning ARC Drivers’ champion, finished 14th overall in a hired Toyota Auris while the other two Zimbabwean competitors, Green and Attwell, pulled out of the race on Day Two of competition on Saturday after their cars developed some mechanical fault.
But kudos must go to Rautenbach who raised the Zimbabwean flag in this tough race where, apart from taking an impressive overall third-place finish, he was placed number one in the ARC-registered drivers list ahead of South Africa’s Schalk Burger (Jnr) and Whyte.
Rautenbach came into the weekend’s Sasol Rally in devastating form as he was riding on the back of two back-to-back victories his first two events of the year – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and the Total Tour Natal Rally.
The Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, which was held in Harare last month, was the opening round of the 2011 ARC series while the Total Tour Natal Rally, held three weeks ago in Durban here in South Africa, was also the season-opener of the South African National Rally Championship (SARC).
By winning these two events, Rautenbach came out as the early pacesetter in the Drivers Standings of both events, notching 25 points in the ARC series.
And he continued from where he left off in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and the Total Tour Natal Rally by holding his own in the Sasol Rally which attracted a large entry of 44 cars. Of the 44 cars that were flagged off on Friday, 27 managed to last the distance with 17 falling by the way side, including the two belonging to Zimbabwe’s Green and Attwell.
Green was in a Mitsubishi Lancer and he pulled out of the race on the final day on Saturday after his car nose dived during stage 11 and could not take him any further.
Attwell, on the other hand, saw his new Toyota Auris misfiring on the same day and this, at one stage, forced him to run on three cylinders before he finally decided to call it a day at the same stage 11.
But there were no such misfortunes for Rautenbach.
The likeable Zimbabwean driver was flagged off first on Day One of competition on Friday morning in the Sabie area, which is about 60km outside Nelspruit, and driving around the vast and beautiful mountaineers forest plantation of this area, he finished the day lying in fifth place.
But Rautenbach, who was ably assisted by his French co-driver Nicolas Klinger, finally showed his class on the final day of competition on Saturday in which he clawed his way back into the race, finishing the grueling event in third place. Rautenbach managed to win only one stage of this event – Stage 11 – but that was good enough to record him a total time of 139:12.3 as compared to Poulter’s 137:27.4.
Second-placed Gemmel recorded a total time of 137:35.0.
Rautenbach was the first to admit at the end of the Sasol Rally late on Saturday afternoon that this was a very tough event for him but he was quite happy with his overall performance and the third-place finish.
“It was a difficult weekend for me. On Friday (on Day One) we were too cautious because we were the first car on the road and we didn’t do that well but today (Saturday), it was a different start.
“We did better than on the previous day in which we finished the day on fifth place. We managed to fight our way back into contention and I’m quite happy with our (overall) third place finish. In fact, we finished first in Africa (ARC) and I think we are also still leading in the South African Rally Championship series standings and this is good for us,” said Rautenbach, who added that he was now looking forward to competing in the third round of this year’s ARC series – the Zambia International Rally – in Lusaka next month.
But before traveling to Zambia, Rautenbach has to return here to South Africa to race in the third round of the SARC series in two weeks time. The event’s venue is yet to be announced.
But Rautenbach must be looking back at his performance at the Sasol Rally with some degree of satisfaction as he faced some stiff competition from a host of South African top drivers who included the eventual winner Poulter. It was only Poulter’s ninth rally and his fourth in a class S2000 car, according to the event’s organisers.
His navigator, Elvene Coetzee, the daughter of well-known retired South African rally competitor, Kassie Coetzee, is the first woman co-driver to win a national event since the late Martie Olivier and only the fifth woman co-driver.
Toyota held the overnight lead at the end of Day One and Gemmell, who finished Friday in first position, started first on the road on Saturday morning.
Right from the beginning it was clear that there were really only three competitors in the running for the win – Gemmell, Jannie Habig, in a BP VW Racing Polo Vivo S2000, and Poulter. Habig was leading the rally at the start of Stage 12, but he rolled the VW Polo Vivo in the stage and Poulter took the lead and never really looked as if he was in trouble inspite of the close attention of his teammate Gemmell.
At the end of stage 15 Poulter had a lead of 7,6 seconds with only two short spectator stages to go. Poulter kept his lead to win.
Rautenbach, in a G-Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000, then came in third 104 seconds behind Poulter followed by Jean-Pierre Damseaux in a Team Total Toyota RunX, 181 seconds off the pace.
Fifth was Mark Cronje in a Team Sasol Ford Fiesta RS, who made a remarkable recovery after losing three minutes on Day One.
He was followed by Charl Wilken in a Basil Read/Bizhub Ford Fiesta RS.
Seventh overall after breaking a propshaft in stage 12, was Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries in a BP VW Racing Polo Vivo, followed by Mohammed Moosa in the other Team Total Toyota RunX, Nicolas Ryan in a Polo Vivo and Heinrich Lategan in the Pirtek Peugeot 207.
Outside the Top 10 was the reigning African motor rallying champion Whyte of Zimbabwe who finished 14th overall in a top-of-the-range Toyota Auris which he hired from South African Hein Lategan, specifically to race with it in this event. Whyte was, however, satisfied with his overall performance.
“It was really hard work out there I tell you. I had a beautiful car and we were kept so busy all the time . . . We just couldn’t relax and you’ve to be fit and young in order to do well in this car.
“But I enjoyed racing in this car for the first time and I would like to thank Toyota Zimbabwe, especially its managing director Ian Howden, for giving me this wonderful opportunity of hiring and driving this fast Toyota Auris.
“I can now take it back to its owner (Hein Lategan) with no damages. If I’d damaged it, I could have paid for the damages. That was the deal we made with him when we hired it from him,” said a jovial but tired looking Whyte after the race on Saturday.
The 50-year-old seasoned campaigner said he was now looking forward to competing in the third round of the 2011 ARC series – the Zambia International Rally – in Lusaka where he hopes to reunite with his favourite Subaru Impreza.