Leeroy Poulter
Toyota Motorsport South Africa’s strong line-up of Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris S2000), Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Castrol Team Toyota Yaris S2000) and Giniel de Villiers and Greg Godrich (Imperial Toyota Yaris S2000) will be looking to score the all-new for 2013 Yaris four-wheel drive rally car’s maiden victory in the South African Rally Championship in the fifth round on August 16 and 17.
Second place finishes for Poulter/Coetzee and Gemmell/Swan in the Sasol Rally in April and the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally in June respectively and third place in the recent VW Rally by De Villiers/Godrich have been encouraging. In fact, had it not been for a penalty for clocking in early at a marshal point on the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally, Gemmell and Swan would have been the victors.
“We’re very happy with the progress we’ve made with the two-door Yaris so far,” said team principal Glyn Hall. “We’re up against established rally machines from Volkswagen and Ford and are working hard to match them. We don’t think we’re far off. Punctures and damage caused by hitting obstacles have cost us on some occasions. We’re happy with the car’s pace.
The Ford Dealer Rally will start from Zonderwater in Cullinan at 11.00 on Friday and there will be six stages in the Cullinan area on the first day, five on gravel and a short tarmac spectator special stage at the Mamelodi Plaza. Saturday’s action will start from Zonderwater at 08.00 and will cover four more gravel stages, each repeated to give a total of 14 stages and a total stage distance of some 180 kilometres.
Toyota enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with Castrol, Toyota Financial Services, Imperial Toyota Group, Innovation Group, Bosch, DeWalt, Donaldson, Edgecam, Ferodo, NGK, SKF and Spanjaard.
Follow the fortunes of Castrol Team Toyota on Twitter, www.twitter.com/toyotasa.
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Johnny Gemmell