Top competitors tipped to win first rally

THE Algoa Steel 50k Challenge, the first race of the Algoa Rally Club's season, will take place tomorrow.

It is the first of six events in and around Port Elizabeth for lucrative prizes at the end of the year.

The main prize is a Volkswagen Polo rally kit car and second place will earn the lucky driver a cash prize of R15000. The third-placed driver will receive R7000, with a further R25000 available for the runners-up as rally bucks paid out per point scored. VW Sasol Racing will enter the event as a test session for their top national S2000 drivers Henk Lategan and Pierre Arries and Thilo Himmel and Armand du Toit.

S1600 Volkswagen Motorsport privateers will be Paul Franklen and Henry Kohne and Marco Himmel and Francois Schonbee. They will use the event as a warm-up before the national championship starts.

Competitors are fired up about the season after Jacques Louw and Gabriel Groener walked away last year with the R50000 prize consisting of a Polo DIY kit car and racing accessories. They are desperately keen to defend their title.

A number of classes will be contested. They include the S1 1400cc, S2 1600cc, and S3 2000cc classes.

The Volkswagen national competitors are expected to set the bench mark, even though not competing for the end-of-the-year prize.

Spectators will have the opportunity to support the rally which will start at Hunters Retreat Hotel.

The first car (Henk Lategan) will start at 10am from Parsons Green in front of Algoa Steel in Greenbushes, followed by the rest of the field at two-minute intervals seeded by performance.

For more information on the rally and to view the spectator areas, service parks and special stages visit the Algoa Rally website www.algoarallyclub.co.za