Conrad’s matches dad’s mark

racing sensation Conrad Rautenbach handled his Ford Fiesta S2000 on his way to winning his fourth Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title in Harare yesterday.
Conrad Rautenbach, who was ably assisted by his French navigator Nicolas Klinger, expertly handled his vehicle in the grueling three-day event in which he led from start to finish to equal the record which was set by his father, the legendary Zimbabwe motor rallying driver Billy Rautenbach, in the 1990s.
Billy Rautenbach won the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally four times in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995 to place himself among the immortals of Zimbabwean motor rallying.
And Billy was joined in this “elite club” by his son Conrad who returned to the domestic motor rallying scene with a vengeance at the weekend to claim his fourth Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title.
The likeable and soft-spoken 25-year-old Conrad Rautenbach had previously won this event for three consecutive times from 2005 to 2007.
He then took “a sabbatical” from the local motor rallying scene for two years in 2008 and 2009 in which he raced overseas for the Citroen Junior Team in the prestigious World Rally Championship.
Last year, Conrad Rautenbach returned home to compete in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in August but he failed to last the distance, going out of the race on Day Two after his car developed some mechanical problems.
And at the weekend, Conrad Rautenbach was determined to bury the ghost of last year as he came into this year’s event driving a G-Fuel ethanol-powered Ford Fiesta S2000.
Coming up against the likes of the reigning Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally champion Jamie Whyte and former champion Muna Singh of Zambia, Conrad Rautenbach knew that there was no room for any error in this year’s event.
And the 25-year-old driver drove his car like a demon as he swept to victory ahead of the Subaru Impreza N10 team of Whyte and his seasoned co-driver Phil Archenoul who came second.
Third place went to Rwanda’s Giancarlo Davite and his female navigator Sylvia Vindevogel who were also in a Subaru Impreza.
Conrad Rautenbach also got a little help from his father Billy who monitored his son’s progress during the three days of racing in a helicopter. And young Conrad Rautenbach could not hide his excitement after having left Whyte, a two-time African Rally Championship series champion, licking his wounds at the end of the three-day event at the Rainbow Towers in Harare yesterday. Speaking shortly after the end of the event yesterday, Conrad Rautenbach said he had an almost incident-free race although he faced some minor problems on day two on Saturday in the Ruwa farming areas.
“We had some problems with water splashes in Ruwa on Saturday where we lost about three minutes after our car got stuck at a river crossing which was too deep.
“In fact, some water got into our engine but we managed to overcome this problem and it was all plain sailing for us after that.
“The car also did more than what we expected because it was the first time that it was running on ethanol, a locally produced fuel.
“It also feels good to win the first rally of the year at home,” Conrad Rautenbach said.
His father, Billy, was also equally happy after seeing his son equaling his record of winning the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally four times.
“We are all very happy as the G-Fuel team to see Conrad coming home first in what was a very tough and exciting rally.
“I am also personally happy that my son has equaled my record of winning this event four times, running his car on ethanol, a fuel which is produced in this country. In fact, it is the first rally car to run on ethanol in Africa and it really did well,” said local business mogul Billy Rautenbach.
This year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally started on Friday and it was the opening round of the eight-legged 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series.
Sixteen vehicles were flagged off at the Rainbow Towers on Day One of the event on Friday but only six managed to last the distance after three days of racing in Harare and the surrounding areas of Ruwa and Norton.
And among the cars that reached home safely at the close of business yesterday afternoon was Laureen Marufu’s Toyota Corolla which crossed the finish line in sixth place.
Marufu is the only local black woman who is into motor racing and this was the second time that she has managed to last the distance in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally after having finished ninth in last year’s event on her debut appearance in this tough race.
And Marufu was just over the moon after she shepherded her Toyota Corolla to an impressive sixth-place finish yesterday.
“I’m really chuffed about this latest development. What pleases me most is that unlike last year, I had an incident-free race this time around and my car came out without any dent . . . That’s pretty good,” Marufu said after yesterday’s race.
Marufu had Clint Ashdown as her navigator and they also won the N2 Class section at the end of the race yesterday.
She was also classed as the first female driver home.
Marufu, racing under Team Amara, made history last year when she entered the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally for the first time and yesterday she attributed her success on the consistence performance they put up with her co-driver Ashdown.
“It was brilliant. We have been doing very well and were quite consistence since Friday. I feel great, it is a challenge to finish the race.
“Last year, we were doing it for fun but this year we had a lot of sponsors and it put more pressure on us and a lot was expected from us,” she said.
Last year’s winner, Whyte came second driving his Subaru Impreza N10 and he said he was now looking forward to the second leg of this year’s ARC series – the Sasol Rally South Africa – which will be held during the weekend of April 15 to 17.
“I am happy I came second in this race. On Friday, I was the fourth quickest. I had some problems with the overheating of the engine yesterday but today I started on third place and I pulled one place up to finish on second position.
“Now I’m going to focus on the second leg of the African Rally Championship to be held in Durban, South Africa. After that we will go to Zambia for the third leg a month later and if we are doing well, we will go up to Tanzania and Uganda,” said Whyte.
Whyte, who finished the race despite having a puncture during the last stage of the event yesterday, was also impressed with the large turnout of local motor racing fans who came out in their hundreds to support this year’s event.
Davite of Rwanda and his co-driver Vindevogel came third while Singh of Zambia took fourth place with Zimbabwe’s veteran motor rally driver Richard Robinson (55) coming fifth, one place ahead of Marufu.
Another local female driver, Michelle Yorke, pulled out of the race on Saturday when seven other cars called it a day.
Among the early casualties of the race were Chase Attwell, South Africa’s Schalk Burger (Jnr), Mohammed Essa of Zambia, Big “Bigs” Chitima, Craig Green and Stuart Haddon.
Young Rowan Whyte and his co-driver Craig Archenoul were the first to pull out on the first day of the race on Friday.
Yesterday saw two other cars pulling out of the race – Jess Watson’s Mitsubishi Lancer and Ian Howden’s Mitsubishi Evo 6 – and the Zimbabwe Motor Sports Federation public relations officer, Stan Higgins, said that most of the cars pulled out of event because of engine and mechanical problems.
“This was a very tough race which ended with six cars finishing. Last year nine out of 20 cars finished the race,” said Higgins.