Conrad, Jamie in SA

before they take part in this weekend’s tough two-day Sasol Rally in Nelspruit, South Africa.
The Sasol Rally, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, is the second round of the 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series in which Rautenbach, Whyte and Green are representing Zimbabwe.
And the three top Zimbabwean motor rallying drivers will today be involved in the recee runs of the Sasol Rally before they engage themselves in the battle for the top honours in this two-day event with fellow top competitors from Africa and the hosts South Africa on Saturday and Friday.
The 20th running of the Sasol Rally, which is also the second round of the eight-round South African National Rally Championship, has attracted a strong field of 48 cars.
Among them will be seven African teams that will be fighting for points in the 2011 ARC series in which Rautenbach and Whyte are already leading the way at the top of the competition’s Drivers’ Standings with 25 points and 18 points respectively.
Another Zimbabwean driver Green is yet to register any points in this year’s ARC series but will be hoping to get some on board at the business end of the Sasol Rally on Saturday night in Nelspruit.
Rautenbach and Whyte left Johannesburg yesterday afternoon for Nelspruit where they will have the first feel of the event’s stages in today’s reece runs before competing in the two-day race at the weekend. Speaking from Johannesburg yesterday, both Rautenbach and Whyte said they were quite confident of doing well in this weekend’s race in which they will be tackling some of the top motor rallying drivers in Africa and the hosts South Africa.
Rautenbach, however, said he was under “a little bit of pressure” going into this weekend’s race as all eyes will be on him after he claimed two first podium finishes in his first two motor rallying events of the year – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and the Total Tour Natal Rally – at home in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the past month.
The 26-year-old Zimbabwean motor rallying sensation was just in a class of his own in these two events in which he just swept the opposition away without raising much of a sweat as he cruised to victory in his G-Fuel G85 ethanol-powered Ford Fiesta S2000.
In fact, this is the first time that Rautenbach is competing in an ethanol-powered car and he said yesterday his only fear in this weekend’s Sasol Rally were some of the stages, which he said were bumpy and rough, and the weather.
“I’ve watched some of the (Sasol Rally’s) stages on DVD and some of them look very rough and bumpy, and I think there will be a lot of bumps and jumps in this race.
“The other thing which is worrying me is the weather. They (the event’s organisers) said it’s likely to rain in Nelspruit at the weekend and the roads will be wet and slippery, and that might cause some problems for the competitors,” Rautenbach said. One thing is certain for Rautenbach – the strategy has to be completely different from that applied during the Total Tour Natal Rally in Natal three weeks ago.
The big factor at the moment is that some weather fund is in South Africa predict a 70 percent chance of rain today during the recce runs and an 100 percent chance of rain tomorrow, 100 percent for Friday and 50 percent so far for Saturday.
Rautenbach’s fellow Zimbabwean ARC-registered driver Whyte was yesterday also fancying his chances of doing well on the eve of his debut appearance in a motor rallying event in South Africa.
Whyte, the reigning African motor rallying champion, has hired a top-of-the-range Toyota Auris S2000 from South African Hein Lategan, which he will be driving during the weekend’s Sasol Rally.
The 50-year-old driver and his fellow veteran Zimbabwean co-driver Phil Archenoul had a chance to test-drive their “new car” last weekend in Johannesburg and they were both satisfied with it.
Speaking to The Herald while they were on their way to Nelspruit from Johannesburg yesterday afternoon, Whyte and Archenoul said the Toyota Auris was in good condition and was unlikely to give them any problems at the weekend.
“We tested it over the weekend in Johannesburg and it’s a very fast car. It’s not a normal N4 Class car and it’s in good condition . . . We are hoping to do well at the weekend,” they both said.
Whyte, however, said he was not particularly worried about the South African drivers as he would only have to keep a wary eye on the other competitors who are fighting with him for the ARC points in this race.
“We are not worried about the South African guys as our main opponents will be the guys who will be competing with us in the ARC series.
“So, it’s going to be a very tough but exciting race for us although this will be the first time that I will be racing in South Africa in a more powerful Toyota Auris S2000,” Whyte said.