Coertse grabs Dullstroom honours

Weather, infringements and off-road excursions meant plenty of surprises in the two final rallies of the South African National series – two day, two rallies and changes in the lead right up to the finish but it was a huge event for the Mazda 2 pairing of Chris Coertse and Greg Godrich who emerged overall winners on both days.

Friday:

What should have been a straight fight in the dust on the fast special stages around the trout-rich town of Dullstroom in Mpumalanga, turned into a fight for surival for many of crews contesting the final two rounds of the 2023 South African National Rally Championship.

Clear skies and bright sunshine greeted competitors at the start of the TRACN4 Rally and all eyes were on the expected tussle between the NRC 1 Rally Technic Mazda 2 of Chris Coertse and Greg Godrich and the NRC 2 Just Tools Volkswagen Golf crewed by Benjamin Habig and Barry White – this fight for second overall in the series with the actual champion having been crowned at the previous event.

“It would be nice to claim that second place, but our goal the whole season has been to win the class,” said White.

It all went wrong for them shortly after the start of first special stage when the Polo lost drive and could not be recovered until all the cars had passed, forcing their retirement for the day and leaving the way open for the Maza duo to forge ahead.

However, the big mover of the morning was the Salom Toyota Auris of Theuns Joubert and Schalk van Heerden who stormed through the opening stage to win by 10 seconds from Coertse/Godrich with newly-crowned SA Champions JJ Potgieter and Tommy du Toit in the NTT Toyota Delmas Hyundai R4 visibly taking things easier than their normal all-out charge.

Potgieter/Du Toit

“I was taking it easier,” said Potgieter, “but we were also battling with a misfire that kept us off the pace.”

Stage 2 was a blinder for Mandla Mdakane and Kes Naidoo in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Starlet and they howled through taking 10 seconds from Joubert/Van Heerden and 14 seconds from the Mazda – just reward, perhaps for a troubled season that saw the Starlet retire from several events.

However, the pair made an error during the clock-in procedure at the start of the stage and were then penalised by four minutes, dropping them to the back of the field and this was compounded at the end of the day when and engine problem meant they could not get the car back to the parc ferme.

By the end of Stage 3 Joubert and Van Heerden had extended their lead to 17 seconds over the Mazda with Potgieter/Du Toit now slotted into third place ahead of Gerald Klopper and Etienne Lourens (GK Racing Toyota Auris) fourth overall and the leading NRC 2 contender ahead of Gustav Potgieter/Armand du Toit (Atlas Oil Ford Fiesta R2).

Stage 4 saw much o the same but with Mdakane trying to eat up as much of his deficit as possible and racking up third quickest time  over the 12, 6 kilometres of Safcol Highway 2 – this pulling them up to seventh overall.

Then, the weather intervened and a sudden, short rain and lightning storm descended with the cars in Stage 5 where everything changed as the gravel road turned into an ice-rink, setting off a chain of events started by Gerald Klopper who lost a wheel and veered off into a tree, leaving the car in a vulnerable position.

With Lourens waving oncoming competitors to slow down, Gustav Potgieter stopped on the stage (after having been stuck in the mud for more than minute earlier) without realising George Smallberger/Shaun Visser (Shield Q20 Volkswagen Polo) had closed right up.

“I saw him stopped on the stage and tried to go around but with the mud and the slide we ended up beached on the edge of the road and lost plenty of time trying to get free.” Said Smallberger.

Joubert/Van Heerden

But, it was up front where the real drama happened as Theuns Joubert suffered a front left tyre puncture and with 10 kilometres of stage left, decided to continue. The delaminating tyre then dmaged the front end of the car but they made it to the flying finish, losing 58 seconds in the process.

This giffted Coertse a 35 second lead overall, cemented by the fact the Clerk-of-the-Course then cancelled the final stage of the day for safety reasons.

So, Coertse/Godrich took top step of the podium from Joubert/Van Heerden and Potgieter/Du Toit with Mdakane/Naidoo fourth on the road but excluded because of the engine issue on the way to the overnight parc ferme.

Thus, Gustav Potgieter finish fourth ahead of Lynton Swatton and Tommy Coetzee (RBS Plumbing Toyota RunX).

Saturday:

Overnight the weather cleared and Saturday dawned bright and clear with Joubert/Van Heerden following the TRAC N$ catchline for the event of ‘going all out’ and they opened proceedings – much of which involved the previous day’s stages in reverse – with an eight second advantage over Potgieter/Du Toit and taking 29 seconds from Coertse/Godrich.

Back in the running, Habig and White ran a conservative fifth quickest on the stage a second behind Gustav Potgieter and five ahead of the Johan Strauss/Elzaan van der Schyff Agri Online Subaru WRX that was forced to withdraw before the start of the Friday even with engine problems.

“It is still not properly sorted,” said Strauss “and there is a throttle problem. If I drive slowly there is some response but if I try to go quickly it does not respond.”

With the Hyundai now cleared of its misfire, JJ Potgieter decided it was time to get moving and raced through the second stage two seconds to the good over Joubert with Coertse maintaining an edge over Habig who headed the NRC 2 class.

The AR Panelbeaters Ford Escort Cosworth of Anton Raaths and Marie Ducasse had a good run to notch up fifth place on the road.

The rally then looked as if it was settling into a pattern with Joubert/Van Heerden taking the top honours on Stage 3 followed by Potgieter/Du Toit with Coertse and Habig in close attendance – Potgieter then upped the pace to take Stage 4 to set up the scene for the final stages by reducing Joubert’s lead to just 0,1 seconds after the former lost time in the stage due to a faulty oil temperature sensor caused the engine to go into limp mode.

Coertse was just 1min07 sec off the lead at this point.

Mdakane/Naidoo

However, this time it was not the weather to influence things – Car 0, which has the task of going through the stage ahead of the field to check the marshals are in place, arrowing is correct and no spectators are in dangerous places, had a mechanical issue. This is then followed by Car 00 half an hour before the first competitor enters the stage.

Stage 5, which was also being run as Stage 6, had to be cancelled to allow Car 00 to do the work of both lead vehicles.

This stage, a repeat of Stge 2 from Friday, featured a downhill run to a shallow water splash with a disconcerting bump on the exit and Habig – not having done the stage the previous day – came flying in, uymped, got hugely sideways, corrected and went up on two wheels.

He landed back on the road but minus a wheel and carried on to finish the stage. However, he transgressed regulations by driving on a public road on three wheels then replacing the wheel in the control area of Stage 6, resulting in his exclusion.

Stage 6, Lakenvlei, worked for Coertse who took 1,8 seconds off Joubert with Potgieter third quickest through the 27,4 kilometre section just ahead of Habig who would have been third overall at that point had it not been for the exclusion he was yet to hear about.

Habig/White

The final stage of the event and the season, Legends, saw Coertse again take the stage win, this time taking 11, 9 seconds off Joubert to end up as overall winner for the day and second overall in the National standings behind Gustav Potgieter who ended on the third step of the podium for the day and first car in the NRC 2 category.

JJ Potgieter finished fourth overall, ahead of Magriet Potgieter and Rikus Fourie (Ford Fiesta R2) and Bruce Swatton/Adrian du Plessis (RBS Plumbing Toyota Auris S2000).

https://bit.ly/3sFTXIf

 Toyota Yaris GR - born to please

Born from a long history competing in the World Rally Championship, the Toyota GR Yaris incorporates motor sport technology and design directly to the road car. 

The GR Yaris is a model that benefits from the design and engineering skills of Toyota Gazoo Racing and Tommi Mäkinen Racing, Toyota’s partner in the WRC. As well as serving as the official homologation model for development of the next Yaris WRC car, it also has all the attributes required for owners looking to compete successfully in local rally competitions or track-day activities. 

It represents Toyota’s second global GR model, following the GR Supra.

 “One of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s commitments is to use motor sport to refine its know-how and its personnel, with the aim of launching world-class production sports cars. While the new GR Supra is a sports car developed through track racing, the GR Yaris has been devised through our participation in rallies – something that many of our fans have been waiting for,” says Gazoo Racing President Shigeki Tomoyama. 

The new GR Yaris is Toyota’s first genuine all-wheel drive sports car and its first homologation model for World Rally Championship competition since the end of production of the Celica GT-Four in 1999. 

The WRC-skilled team of designers and engineers at Tommi Mäkinen Racing focused on perfecting the aerodynamics, weight distribution and light weight of the new car – the three qualities essential to achieving the best performance and drivability. 

A lower roofline improved the car’s ability to cut through the air, while positioning the new 1,6-litre

turbo engine further back towards the centre of the car and locating the battery in the boot helped produce a better chassis balance for improved handling, stability and responsiveness. 

The three-door body shell is made from lightweight materials including carbon fibre polymer and aluminium, to deliver an impressive power-to-weight ratio, while the new platform allows for a wider rear track and new double-wishbone rear suspension system. The team also devised reinforcements beneath the side members to ensure the suspension’s performance potential can be realised. 

At the front, cooling air is fed to the radiator, intercooler and engine compartment through a large, rectangular lower grille with a wide honeycomb mesh inset. The grille is flanked by large vertical inlets for the brake duct and intercooler, with circular LED fog lights positioned at the far edges of the bumper. 

The prominent lower spoiler has a downforce-generating shape, with a raised centre section that controls the flow of air beneath the vehicle.

 

At the rear, the tapering of the roof and rear pillars and the addition of the deep, high-mounted spoiler, enhance downforce and aerodynamic performance. 

Inside, a twin-hooded binnacle frames easy-to-read analogue instrumentation which features a 4,2-inch TFT colour multi-information display in the centre. The MID features an all-wheel drive indicator showing the torque distribution, mode selected for the GR-FOUR system and a turbo pressure monitor. 

The gear shift lever has a high position on the centre console, raised by 50 mm and set close to the steering wheel, helping the driver make quick shifts. The GR-FOUR selector control is placed just forward of the gear shift, for easy changes between Normal, Sport and Track modes.

The GR Yaris’s engine is an all-new, three-cylinder turbo-charged unit that benefits from motor sport technologies to maximise performance, including multi-oil jet piston cooling, large-diameter exhaust valves and a part-machined intake port. Displacing 1 618 cc, it produces a maximum output of 198 kW at 6 500 r/min and 360 Nm of torque between 3 000 r/min and 4 600 r/min. 

The DOHC 12-valve engine features a single-scroll ball-bearing turbo and large intercooler and Toyota's D-4S direct and port-injection system, is utilised for maximum efficiency. Fuel consumption is listed as 7,6 l/100 km with CO₂ emissions registering 172 g/km. 

The 1,6-litre 12-valve engine meets the World Rally Championship’s Rally 2 (formerly R5) regulations, following Toyota’s negotiations with the sport’s governing body to allow a three-cylinder format. 

Atsunori Kumagaya, who led the development project, explains: “We preferred this engine due to its light weight and compact size making it simple to install, while the lack of exhaust gas interference made it easier to obtain power.” 

The engine is matched to a six-speed manual transmission, engineered to accommodate high torque levels. 

The body shell is constructed predominantly from lightweight materials, including a new carbon fibre polymer for the roof that can be compression moulded (a first for Toyota). Aluminium is used for the bonnet, doors and tailgate. 

As a result, the GR Yaris has the power of a C-segment performance hatch but the weight of a B-segment machine (kerb weight of just 1 280 kg). Its power-to-weight ratio of 0,154 kW per kg helps deliver a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 5,5 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 230 km/h.

 The GR Yaris’s performance is supported by a new GR-Four all-wheel drive system where distribution of torque between the front and rear axles is governed by a high-response coupling. 

The system uses slightly different gear ratios for the front and rear axles and allows for a theoretical range of front/rear torque balance from 100:0 (full front-wheel drive) to 0:100 (full rear-wheel drive). This flexibility gives a performance advantage over AWD on-demand systems that use twin-coupling or permanent AWD systems with a centre differential. The GR-Four system is also considerably lighter in weight. 

The driver can adjust four-wheel drive performance to suit their preference or the driving situation using a 4WD mode dial switch. In normal mode the base front/rear torque distribution is 60:40; in Sport mode the balance shifts to the rear, with a 30:70 split to achieve a fun-to-drive quality on winding roads and circuits; and in Track mode the base setting is 50:50 for fast, competitive driving on circuits or special stages. In each mode, the torque balance will automatically adjust in response to the driver’s inputs, vehicle behaviour and road or track conditions. 

Where the standard new Yaris uses a torsion beam rear suspension, the GR Yaris has a double wishbone set-up and a MacPherson strut system is used at the front. 

All models ride on 18-inch alloy wheels, with 225-40-R18 rubber at all four corners. Depending on model, the GR Yaris is fitted with either Dunlop SP Sport MAXX 050 or Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres. 

The performance braking system features large, 356 mm grooved front discs with four-pot callipers and the front brake discs are larger than those fitted to the GR Supra. 

Two derivatives of the GR Yaris are on offer; the GR Yaris and GR Yaris Rally. The GR Yaris features all the core performance items, and is aimed at the regular user with an 'on-road' bias. The Rally suffix indicates the addition of the Circuit Pack. 

This equips the car with a Torsen limited-slip differential on both the front and rear axle, performance-tuned suspension, revised power-steering assistance and an upgrade to 18-inch BBS forged alloy wheels - shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 4s tyres.

 

In addition to the mechanical upgrades, the Rally model also boasts combination leather/Alcantara sports seats in the front with enhanced bolstering, leather rear seats, Heads-up Display (HUD), the Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) active safety suite and Active Noise Control. Active Noise Control amplifies the engine sound by cancelling out opposing frequencies - adding a vocal soundtrack.   

All models have keyless entry with push start, LED-headlamps with Daytime Running Lights (DRL) and auto function, LED foglamps, heated and power-retractable exterior mirrors, plus rain-sensing wipers. On the inside, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, dual-zone climate control, Multi-Information Display (MID), 12-volt power outlet and a tilt-and-telescopic adjustable steering column deliver on convenience.   

A 6-speaker touchscreen audio system is standard on all models, and features Apple CarPlay/Android Auto functionality for smartphones as well as Bluetooth and USB inputs. 

A full suite of active and passive safety features includes anti-lock braking, EBD, Brake Assist (BA), VSC and Hill Assist Control (HAC). A four-wheel tyre pressure monitor system acts as both safety and performance feature.   

On the Rally model, the TSS-package adds Pre-Collision System (PCS), Automatic High Beam (AHB), Lane Trace Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control. 

Pricing

Toyota GR Yaris                       - R 606 600

Toyota GR Yaris Rally               - R715 600

All GR Yaris models are sold with a 9-services/90 000 km service plan (intervals set at 10 000 km) and 3-year/100 000km warranty. Customers can also purchase a variety of service and/or warranty add-ons at their local dealership.