Whyte set to leave for Sasol Rally

to prepare for the Sasol Rally which will be held during the weekend of April 15-17 in Nelspruit.
The Sasol Rally will, for the first time this year, act as the second round of the tough eight-legged 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series.
Whyte is the reigning ARC Drivers’ champion after winning the prestigious event for two years in a row in 2009 and 2010 and will be going for a hat-trick of victories during this year’s series.
The 50-year-old Zimbabwean driver got off to a good start in this year’s ARC series by coming second behind his fellow countryman Conrad Rautenbach in the opening round of the competition – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally – which was staged in and around Harare from March 11-13.
And after coming second behind Rautenbach in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in a Subaru Impreza, Whyte decided to acquire a more powerful Toyota Auris S2000 for the Sasol Rally. Whyte will hire the Toyota Auris S2000 from South African Hein Lategan with the help of a local company, Toyota Zimbabwe. And Whyte said yesterday that he was likely to leave the country “anytime” this week for South Africa to test-drive his “new car” before competing in the Sasol Rally where he intends to mount a serious challenge.
“In fact, I’m just waiting to hear from this guy (Lategan) as to when the car will be ready for me to test-drive it.
“I haven’t driven this car before but I think I will test-drive it during this coming weekend before I leave Johannesburg on Monday next week for Nelspruit for my final preparations of the Sasol Rally.”
The recce of the Sasol Rally will be held on Wednesday next week before Whyte joins the cream of fellow African motor rallying drivers in the race which is expected to be staged over two days on April 15 and 16. Most of South Africa’s top motor rally drivers will also be in the Sasol Rally, making it one of the toughest events in this year’s ARC series whose last six rounds will be held in Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Madagascar during the course of the year.
Zimbabwe’s motor rallying hotshot Rautenbach is the early pacesetter in this year’s ARC Drivers’ Standings with 25 points after he swept to victory in last month’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in a G-Fuel G8 ethanol-powered Ford Fiesta S2000.
Whyte settled for second place in that event and he reckons that Rautenbach will once again be the man to beat in the Sasol Rally in Nelspruit.
“Conrad is just driving well at the moment and it will require me and the rest of the field to produce something special inorder for us to beat him in Nelspruit.
“In fact, if we are to beat him, his car just has to suffer something serious like a mechanical fault or a puncture . . . Apart from that, I can’t see him being beaten in this race,” Whyte said of his talented fellow Zimbabwean driver.
Meanwhile, top local female motor rally driver Laureen Marufu is no longer travelling to South Africa to compete in the Sasol Rally.
Marufu had earlier indicated that she intended to make her debut international appearance outside Zimbabwe in this year’s Sasol Rally. But the bubbly 33-year-old Harare businesswoman said yesterday that the organisers of the Sasol Rally have told her that her Toyota Corolla is “outdated” and is ineligible for the race.
“They told me that my car is outdated as it doesn’t meet some of the standards that are required or needed for top races such as the Sasol Rally and I can’t take part in that race. It’s very unfortunate but I now intend to race in the third round of the ARC series in Zambia in May and then the fourth round in Kenya in June,” Marufu said.
Marufu’s “departure” has now left Zimbabwe with four top contestants for this year’s Sasol Rally – Rautenbach, Whyte, Craig Green and young Chase Attwell.
Rautenbach, Whyte and Green are registered for this year’s ARC series while Attwell is not but he will be part of the starting line-up in a Toyota Auris S2000 which he is reported to have recently bought from South African Visser du Plessis.
And according to sources in the local motor rallying scene, after securing the Toyota Auris S2000 from du Plessis, Attwell has in turn sold his Subaru Impreza to fellow top Zimbabwean driver Big “Bigs” Chitima.