Whyte out to secure Toyota Rally double

on Friday.
The Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally is the opening round of the 2012 FIA African Rally Championship series and will be held over three days — from Friday to Sunday — in Harare and the surrounding areas of Ruwa and Norton.
This year’s event has attracted a good field of 17 cars of which 12 are from Zimbabwe and five from fellow African countries Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
And leading the assault of the 12 Zimbabwean drivers in this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally will be former champion and two-time African motor rallying king  Jamie Whyte.
The 51-year-old seasoned campaigner, who started rallying way back in 1992, will start as one of the pre-race favourites after having won the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally for the first time in 2010.
In fact, Whyte will be looking at regaining the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title that he lost to fellow top Zimbabwean driver Conrad Rautenbach last year.
And Whyte, who has been involved in 19 Zimbabwe Challenge  Rally events since he first competed in this race in 1992, is relishing another opportunity of taking on some of Zimbabwe’s and the continent’s top motor rally drivers in this weekend’s three-day event.
Whyte, who will be in a Subaru Impreza, said yesterday that he was itching to get a first podium place in this weekend’s event after having been forced to settle for a disappointing second place finish by Rautenbach in last year’s competition.
“As always this is going to be another tough race for me, but I’m going to try to go out for a win for sure.
“I’ve been preparing well for this event and I’ve just got a new navigator, Gareth Dawe, who I think is good enough to help me win this event on Sunday,” Whyte said.
But Whyte, who was crowned the African motor rally champion for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010, quickly added that it will not be “any easy stroll in the park” for him during this weekend’s event.
“I can foresee some very stiff competition in this weekend’s race as I’ll be having the likes of Chase Attwell and Jess Watson to contend with.
“In fact, any of the top seven cars can win this race,” said Whyte who, apart from winning the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in 2010, has also came second three times before in this event.
Apart from Attwell and Watson, Whyte will also be keeping a wary eye on two other fellow top Zimbabwean drivers Craig Green and Richard “Mahobho” Robinson in this weekend’s race.
There is also the threat of exciting young Zambian driver Mohammed Essa, Uganda’s Jas Mangat and Giancarlo Davite of Rwanda.
So, it’s no secret that non-stop action is in store for the local motor racing enthusiasts during the three days of high octane racing in this weekend’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally.
And for those who are not aware of when the 50th anniversary of this event is happening, it starts this Friday through to Sunday.
The rally headquarters will be based at the Cresta Lodge for the whole weekend.
The parc ferme will also be there and there will be lots of bar and catering happening there.
The start of the rally will also be at the Cresta Lodge where the start ramp will be at the reception area.
The first car will go onto the ramp for the official start at 2pm on Friday and the rally will then move on to Donnybrook for the famous “three-Car” Super Special Stage.
This will start at approximately 2:50pm.
This stage is great to watch but the spectators need to get there in good time as it only lasts for about 45 minutes from the starting time before the rally cars herd back to the Cresta Lodge for the night.
On Saturday, the rally cars will leave the Cresta Lodge at approximately 8:45am but there will be lots of action at Cresta Lodge before departure as the cars go into the service and fuel park in preparation for the big day.
They then leave the Cresta Lodge for a stage race at Donnybrook (9:45am) and then rallying moves to Ruwa Country Club.
The rally then finishes out in Ruwa at approximately 2pm before the competitors do another stage at Donnybrook (2:30pm) and then everyone moves back to Cresta for the night.
On the final day of racing on Sunday, the rally cars leave the Cresta Lodge at approximately 7:30am for Norton Country Club where a full morning’s rallying takes place.
The teams will leave Norton at approximately 2:25pm and head back to the Cresta Lodge for the final prize-giving on the podium at approximately 5pm.