Stage set for Zimbabwe Challenge Rally launch

Club in Harare.
The Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally — the country’s premier motorsport event — has this year been slated for the weekend of March 16 to 18 and it will be staged in and around Harare.
This event will, for the second year running, act as the opening round of the tough eight-event FIA African Rally Championship series, which attracts the cream of the continent’s motor rallying drivers.
At tomorrow night’s function, Toyota Zimbabwe, who will be sponsoring the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally for the fourth-year running, are expected to unveil their sponsorship package for this year’s event.
Mike Exton, a member of the organising committee of the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, said yesterday that tomorrow night’s function will also give the sponsors an opportunity of meeting the local participants, officials and members of the media ahead of the March 16 to 18 event.
The 2012 Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally will be preceded by the staging of a demonstration Auto-X meeting at the home of local motorsport — Donnybrook — on March 3.
Exton said the demonstration Auto-X meeting will run in conjunction with the main circuit racing where they will be putting the local motor rally cars through their paces before the staging of the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
“The main circuit meeting will start at approximately 11am while the demonstration Auto-X racing will be staged at around 2pm.
“This will see the local drivers, who will take part in this year’s Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, putting their rally cars through their paces before the March 16 to 18 event.
“The staging of the demonstration Auto-X meeting is all part of our preparations for this year’s Zimbabwe Challenge Rally,” Exton said.
This year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally promises to be bigger and better as a number of top South African motor rally drivers are expected to enter this event.
Exton said a number of top South African drivers have already expressed their interest in coming up here to take part in this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
“In fact, only yesterday, one South African guy phoned me asking me how he should go about it in entering this event and this is a strong indication that we are going to have more entries from South Africa than in the previous years,” Exton said.
Last year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally attracted a field of 16 cars which included only four from outside this country.
South Africa’s Schalk Burger (Jnr), Giancarlo Davite of Rwanda and the Zambian duo of Muna Singh and Mohammed Essa were the only foreign drivers who took part in last year’s event which was won by Zimbabwe’s motor rallying hotshot Conrad Rautenbach. Rautenbach will not be back to defend his Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title this year as he has taken a one-year sabbatical from motor rallying.
This is likely to pave the way for former local champion Jamie Whyte to regain the title he lost to Rautenbach during last year’s event.
Whyte said yesterday that he will “definitely” compete in this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally but he will be competing in this event with a new navigator as his long-time co-pilot Phil Archenoul has since retired from the sport.
He (Whyte) said he is likely to name his new navigator before the end of this week.