THE Rally South Africa event in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday and Saturday proved a tough two days at the office for the BP Volkswagen rally team. Eight fast stages of competition over the event saw the team racing for the finish in Durban.
Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson brought their BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 home in fourth place, the pair tackled the stages with aplomb, producing some of their most spectacular moments in the 2012 season.
“It was a strong weekend in the car, we worked hard,” says Kuun. “The BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 is capable and we did reasonably well. We just need to add more speed to the performance.”
For the pair the weekend was all about commitment as they built up to a third place finish overnight after the first day. Kuun and Hodgson were climbing consistently, with a fourth, third and second in terms of stage times, finishing ahead of their teammates Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt who ended the first day of the event in fourth spot, winning stage three of the event – and eager for action in day two.
Unfortunately for Weijs and Degandt – who claimed the stage three victory on day one of the event – a technical problem prevented them from making the start of the second day’s stages.
Saturday saw Kuun and Hodgson continue with their performance as they raced to the finish line, the duo committed themselves to the fight for position and were rewarded with a fourth place finish in the event.
For Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries, a problem sidelined them on the first day and they entered into the Super Rally event on Saturday. While this allowed them to compete, it did mean additional time added to their total. This didn’t stop them from rallying hard – and they claimed the stage eight victory, a full 1.2 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.
Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin were very quick in their BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo as they tackled the stages in the S2000 Challenge class. The pair have been charging hard all season, and the Rally South Africa was no exception.
When Zulu and Peskin crossed the finish line after the ninth stage, they had posted many of the fastest stage times for their category and were 15th overall and second in their class.
Just two places behind Zulu and Peskin on the overall finishing list was Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray in their BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600. Verlaque and Auffray rallied hard on day two to make up for their slower times from day one and finished sixth in their class.
The BP Volkswagen rally team are in action again in mid-September when the national rally field head to the Western Cape.
