Team Sasol’s Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton made history this weekend as the first privateers to win the 2011 South African Driver’s and Co-Driver’s Rally Championship in 45 years. The rally proved to be a grueling battle, where the skills of the drivers and the performance of their vehicles were put to the ultimate test.

The last privateer team to win a South African National Rally Championship was in 1966, when driver François Tucker and co-driver Raggy Schjolberg drove their Volvo to a championship title.

The Sasol team set the pace in their Ford Fiesta S2000 throughout the 2011 rally championship, winning a hat-trick of events out of eight rallies.

After the victory Cronje stated that “It has always been my dream to win the National Rally Championship in the premier S2000 class, and today is a day that I will treasure forever. The determining factor of winning a rally is the commitment and understanding between the driver and the navigator, and we’re thrilled with this result.”

Conrad Rautenbach and Nicholas Klinger took second place with Enzo Kuun Guy Hodgson taking third.

Source: sasol.com