adminRautenbach will this week first travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he will be handed the 2011 South African Rally Championship Drivers’ title at a prize giving function on Saturday night.
From Johannesburg, Rautenbach will next week fly out to New Delhi, India, where he and his French co-driver Nicolas Klinger will also be officially crowned as the 2011 African motor rally champions.
On 9 December Rautenbach and Klinger will attend the end of the year FIA awards gala in the Indian capital.
The gala was traditionally held in the French Principality of Monaco but has been switched to New Delhi this year where all the winners of motor sport championships around the world will gather to collect their silverware.
And Rautenbach will be among the recipients of the awards at the New Delhi gala.
The talented 28-year-old driver had a memorable season this year in which he clinched a historic double by winning the FIA African Rally Championship and the South African Rally Championship titles.
Driving a Green Fuel ethanol-powered Ford Fiesta S2000 and having Frenchman Klinger as his co-driver, Rautenbach first won the 2011 ARC Drivers’ title with two rounds to spare in the eight-round event.
Rautenbach won the African title for the second time in four years after having first been crowned the continental motor rallying champion in 2007.
He won this year’s title ahead of fellow Zimbabwean and defending African champion Jamie Whyte whom he beat by 11 points in the 2011 championship race in which he amassed 105 points as compared to the latter’s 94.
In this year’s ARC series, Rautenbach first won the first three rounds of the event in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia in March, April and May to steer clear of the chasing pack.
He then settled for sixth place in the fourth round of the series — the KCB Safari Rally of Kenya — in June before he pulled out of the next round — the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in July due to other motor rallying commitments in the South African Rally Championship series.
After missing out on competing in the Ugandan rally, Rautenbach then travelled to Tanzania towards the end of August for the sixth round of the series — the Kobil Rally of Tanzania — where he did well to finish fourth behind Madagascar’s JeanYves Ranarivelo, Whyte of Zimbabwe and Zambia’s Mohammed Essa.
After competing in Tanzania, Rautenbach was then expected to take part in the last two rounds of this year’s ARC series in Rwanda from September 30 to October 2 and in Madagascar this past weekend.
But the Zimbabwean driver did not take part in both events after his nearest rival and fellow Zimbabwean, Whyte, had pulled out of the two races following the death of his mother — Meta — towards the end of September.
In fact, Whyte withdrew from this year’s ARC series when his mother passed on as he was just preparing to leave the country to compete in the seventh round of the competition — the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally.
And this saw Whyte handing the 2011 ARC Drivers’ title to Rautenbach who was officially declared the African champion at the completion of the last round of the competition in Madagascar this last weekend.
In fact, there was a double celebration for Rautenbach this week.
After winning the ARC title, he was also finally declared the 2011 South African Rally Drivers’ Champion.
This came after protracted appeals against the running of the fourth round of the South African Rally Championship series — the Gauteng Rally in June which saw widespread shortcutting.
The Motorsport South Africa (MSA) Court of Appeal last weekend declared the rally null and void and this outcome saw Rautenbach elevated to the top of the points standings, 15 clear of Mark Cronje of South Africa, who won the Gauteng Rally.
Meanwhile, Rautenbach said yesterday that he is yet to decide on whether to compete in the ARC and South African Rally Championship competitions next year.
“No decision has been made on this (to defend both titles) at the moment because I first have to sit down with my team and my sponsors before coming up with a clear position for next season,” Rautenbach said.
Online Reporter