Gugu Zulu takes another title!

Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin claimed the S2000 Challenge title for 2012 in their BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000,

Gugu Zulu king of the dirt once more at Garden Route Rally

It was Weijs/Degandt’s and Volkswagen’s first win of the year. They won seven of the 11 stages and had to overcome a 2 min 20 sec delay on Friday when they were forced to stop in special stage three to change a flat wheel.

 

Their popular victory was made all the sweeter by team-mates and former national champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson finishing second in another VW Polo, 33 seconds in arrears after 11 special stages run in the George, Wilderness and Knysna areas on Friday and Saturday.

 

Third, 55 seconds behind the winners, were Jon Williams and father Doug in a Sasol Racing Ford Fiesta , who were one of the few to avoid a puncture on the fast and stony forest roads cleaned by the recent rains.

 

Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Sasol Racing Ford Fiesta) clinched the championship by finishing fourth overall and in the S2000 class for four-wheel drive cars, nine seconds ahead of their nearest championship rivals Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan (Castrol Team Toyota Auris), who were fifth. The final points score was 155 to 144 after eight rounds, with Cronje/Houghton winning five and Gemmell/Swan two.

 

Cronje and Houghton, who was the co-driver champion in 2011, had led at the overnight stop in Wilderness on Friday, over a minute ahead ofKuun/Hodgson and Williams/Williams, who in turn were separated by less than two seconds after almost 100 kilometres of gravel road racing.

 

Gemmell and Swan, who lost over three minutes with a puncture on Friday’s special stage four, were ninth overnight and pushed hard throughout Saturday to improve to fifth at the finish despite another puncture on special stage 11 and close the gap to the Ford pair from over three minutes to 9,5 seconds. They led t by nine seconds with one stage to go, but lost 18 seconds to the new champions on stage 11 when they had another puncture.

Gugu Zulu Claims Championship Title

THE BP Volkswagen rally team contested a punishing Polokwane Rally on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. High temperatures and fast stages made life difficult for many of the competitors.