SA’s finest shuns Zim Challenge

Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally which gets underway next Friday at the Cresta Lodge in Harare.
Looking at the provisional entry list for this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, which was released on Thursday by the organisers of this event, only one South African driver — little-known Pieter Pulisa — has entered for this year’s event.
In fact, for the past couple of years, no top South African driver has “dared” to cross the Limpopo to come up here to compete in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
Female drivers, the “Rally Chicks” Laura and Megan Verlaque, have been the only South African motor rally competitors who have regularly featured in this event while the rest of their compatriots chose to stay at home. In fact, Megan competed in this event in 2009 while her sister Laura was among the starting line-up the following year although she failed to last the distance when her car rolled over during the last Super Special Stage.
However, both Verlaque sisters were “missing in action” in 2011 and are also not in this year’s entry list together with a number of other top South African motor rally drivers. Only Schalk Burger (Junior) managed to drive all the way from South Africa to compete in last year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
In comparison, four top Zimbabwean drivers — Conrad Rautenbach, Jamie Whyte, Craig Green and Chase Attwell — all took part in last year’s Sasol Rally in South Africa.
The Sasol Rally is now acting as the second round of the FIA African Rally Championship series and Rautenbach, Whyte, Green and Attwell joined all the top South African motor rally drivers at this event which held in April in Nelspruit.
It was expected that the South Africans were going to “reciprocate” by sending or encouraging some of their top motor rally drivers to compete in this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge but that has not been the case. Questions have been raised on why “our friends” from Down South are no longer keen to come up here to compete in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
Mike Exton, a member of the local organising committee of the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, yesterday said that their counterparts from South Africa are not all that keen to compete in this event because of the heavy schedule in their own country.
“I think we’ve often been asked this question on why top South African drivers don’t come up here to compete in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
“This is probably because of their South African Rally Championship series which is more competitive and well supported, sponsorship-wise.
“In fact, their national championship is so strong and I think they are more comfortable competing in their local events than anywhere else and they don’t feel it’s necessary to come up here and compete in the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally,” Exton said.
He also agreed that the local organisers of the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally are still struggling to attract more cars or competitors from within and outside this country for this event.
“If I can remember, there were more than 60 cars at the starting line for last year’s KCB Safari Rally of Kenya and you can see how popular the sport of motor rallying is in that country.
“But here in Zimbabwe we have 17 cars for this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally and we are even struggling to get to 18,” Exton said.
But Temba Mazvimbakupa, a member of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation, said the South Africans were reluctant to race in this country because they feel our roads or routes are rough and they break their cars.
“I once asked them why they don’t come and compete in this country, and most of them (the South Africans) said our roads are rough and they (our motor rallying routes) break their cars.
“They’re always mocking us, saying Zimbabwe is a ‘car breaker’. But that is what motor rally is all about when it comes to (racing) in Africa and the South Africans just make flimsy excuses.
“In fact, here in Zimbabwe, we’ve got far much better roads than the ones that are used in other African countries like Kenya and Uganda.
“The other thing which I think forces the South Africans not to come up here for the Challenge Rally is that most of their drivers or cars are sponsored by different motor vehicle manufacturers.
“These manufacturers usually have the final say on who competes where and in which competition unlike here in Zimbabwe where all of our drivers compete independently and they make their own decisions when it comes to competing in local and international events,” Mazvimbakupa said.