Rautenbach wins Toyota rally

he revived his love affair with the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, which he won for the fourth time in Harare at the weekend.
In a master class display, Rautenbach and his French navigator Nicolas Klinger, in the team G-Fuel’s Ford Fiesta S2000, finished the grueling three-day race more than 11 minutes ahead of defending African rally champion Jamie Whyte.
In fact, Rautenbach enjoyed an inch-perfect and trouble free event as he added another Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally crown to an array of titles in his illustrious motor rallying career.
This year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally was the opening round of the 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series whose other seven rounds will be held in South Africa (April 15-17), Zambia (May 20-23), Kenya (June 17-19), Uganda (July 15-17), Tanzania (September 2-4), Rwanda (September 30-October 2) and Madagascar (November 25-27).
And young Rautenbach’s “landslide” victory in the weekend’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally saw him taking an early lead in this year’s ARC series Drivers’ Standings.
Rautenbach, who in 2007 became the second ever Zimbabwean to be crowned the African rally champion, is closely followed in the Drivers’ Standings by the reigning African champion Whyte, also of Zimbabwe, whom he beat into second place during the weekend’s event in Harare.
The 2011 ARC Co-drivers’ Standings also has another Zimbabwean at the top of the pile – reigning champion Phil Archenoul who navigated for Whyte during the weekend’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
Rautenbach’s navigator at the weekend Klinger is, however, not registered for this year’s ARC series and this leaves Archenoul as the early pacesetter in the Co-drivers’ Standings for 2011.
The next stop for Rautenbach and Whyte in this year’s ARC series is the second leg of the competition – the Sasol Rally South Africa – which will be held in Nelspruit from April 15 to 17.
They are likely to be joined in Nelspruit by three other Zimbabwean drivers – Craig Green, Jess Watson and Laureen Marufu – who have all indicated that they would like to compete in the Sasol Rally South Africa next month.
And in Nelspruit, young Rautenbach will be hoping to build on his outstanding performance during the opening round of the 2011 ARC series – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally – at the weekend.
Six years ago, Rautenbach, at the age of 20, became the youngest driver to win the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and he followed this up by winning it again in 2006 and 2007 to complete a hat-trick of victories in the country’s premier motorsport event.
After this remarkable achievement, Rautenbach “gra-duated” to race in the tough world of the World Rally Championship in which he raced for the Citroen Junior Team between 2008 and 2009.
And after his two-year sojourn overseas, Rautenbach returned home to Africa last year where he registered to race in the eight-legged South African Rally Championship series.
He also took time to compete in last year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in August where he met with little success as his car developed some mechanical problems on Day Two of that event and he went out of the race.
This put paid to his hopes of emulating his father, the legendary Zimbabwean motor rallying driver Billy Rautenbach, who won this event a record four times in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995.
And after failing to win the 2010 title, young Conrad Rautenbach vowed to return with a vengeance in this year’s event.
And with a sting in his tail and driving a top-of-the-range Ford Fiesta S2000, which was powered by G-Fuel ethanol, Conrad Rautenbach was just unstoppable duri-ng the weekend’s race, which was held in Harare and the surrounding areas of Ruwa and Norton.
He took the lead from the word go during the first day of racing – a Super Special Stage at Donnybrook on Friday where he finished the day with a time of 5.13 minutes ahead of Chase Attwell (+13), Richard Robinson (+14), Craig Green (+20), Zambia’s Mohammed Essa (+20), Jamie Whyte (+22), Muna Singh of Zambia (+25), Rwanda’s Giancarlo Davite (+26), Big “Bigs” Chitima(+26), and Schalk Burger (Jnr) of South Africa (+30).
Day Two of the event in the Ruwa farming areas on Saturday proved a tough hurdle for most of the competitors as about six cars went out of the race mainly due to mechanical problems.
Among the casualties in Ruwa on Saturday was young Attwell who blew the gearbox of his Subaru Impreza in Stage 4 after posting the best stage time in SS3.
The other drivers that crashed out of the race on that day included Essa, Schalk Burger (Jnr), and Chitima.
The top three places after Day Two were taken by Conrad Rautenbach, Davite and Whyte.
Sunday was the third and final day of the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and it started with eight survivors out of the 16 cars that were flagged off on Day One on Friday.
The cars headed out to Norton, west of Harare, where they raced around the Ruwa Country Club.
And young Conrad Rautenbach was still in no mood to relinquish his lead as he finally romped home ahead of Whyte and Davite to claim his fourth Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title.
In fact, Conrad Rautenbach and Klinger (G-Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000) dominated the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally from start to finish, winning 14 of the 16 stages to take an 11-minute victory ahead of defending ARC champions Whyte and Archenoul (Subaru Impreza).