adminBy Collin Matizach
AFTER missing out on being integrated into the newly-created World Rally Championship Academy, young Zimbabwean motor racing driver Chase Attwell is this year expected to compete in the tough South African Rally Championship series which starts next month.
Attwell failed to make the grade for the WRC Academy during the Pirelli Star Driver Global Shootout in Salou, Spain, in October last year.
And after missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of honing his driving skills overseas, Attwell is reported to have turned his attention on this year’s South African Rally Championship series.
The series is held over eight rounds, starting from next month to October, and it starts with the Total Tour Natal Rally on March 25 and 26 in KwaZulu Natal.
And according to the respected Rallyworld.net website of South Africa, Attwell is expected to compete in this year’s South African Rally Championship series in an as yet unspecified car this year.
Attwell made “a brief appearance” in the last leg of the same series — the Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally — in Pretoria in October last year where he pulled out of the race on day one of competition.
But his presence this year will see Zimbabwe having “a strong representation” at this year’s South African Rally Championship series as two other top drivers from this country — Conrad Rautenbach and Robson Maganezi — will also be competing in the same competition.
Both Rautenbach and Maganezi have already confirmed their participation in this year’s series Down South where the former will be competing in the main S2000 Class.
Rautenbach is once again expected to have his fellow countryman Peter Marsh as his navigator while Maganezi is still to decide on who will navigate for him in this year’s series.
Maganezi confirmed yesterday that he has parted ways with South African Shaun Visser who navigated for him for the better part of last year’s South African Rally Championship series.
“Yes, it’s true, I’ll not be having Shaun Visser as my navigator this year and I’m looking at reengaging another South African Kenny Hill as my navigator,” Maganezi said.
Visser, meanwhile, recently told Rallyworld.net that he was still available to navigate on national rallies in South Africa this season and was looking for a new partner following his separation with Maganezi.
The 2011 South African Rally Championship has all the ingredients to be the most competitive ever in its 50year history, with 10 teams capable of winning any of the eightround series.
The rally championship will feature three South African rally champions with 10 titles between them, one FIA African Rally Champion, a former World Rally Championship competitor, a double Production Car Champion, a former World Production Car competitor and the strong possibility of a Dakar Rally winner.
Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich — winners of the Gauteng Rally, the last event of the 2010 season — will once again team up for an assault on the South African Rally Championship in the Basil Read bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000.
The 2010 season started slowly for the Ford team but as the season progressed, the Basil Read bizhub Ford Fiesta became a regular frontrunner, culminating with the team’s dominant win in the final round of the season.
The 2010 South African Rally Championship was highly competitive with honours spread between Volkswagen with four victories, Toyota with two and Ford with two.
With Volkswagen due to field new cars during the year, upgraded Toyotas and no less than three to four Ford Fiestas in the mix, the ingredients are in place for South African rallying to take its place as one of the most spectacular sporting disciplines Down South.
The first round of the new season gets underway in KwaZulu Natal with the Total Tour Natal Rally on March 25 and 26.
And among the expected starting lineup will be three Zimbabweans — Maganezi, Rautenbach and Attwell.
Online Reporter