SA EARTHWORKS RALLY TEAM IN FRONT IN PMC REGIONAL RALLY

PMC REGIONAL RALLY (RD 1)

You can’t beat seat-time to gain experience in rallying so Nic Van Der Westhuizen and Stefan Cilliers re-claimed the SA Earthworks Ford Fiesta R2 for round one of the Northern Regions Rally Championship held at Bapsfontein on Saturday.

Van Der Westhuizen and Cilliers finished 2nd overall and second in class S3, a minute behind the rally winners, Tjaart /Mari van der Walt.  The pair suffered a tyre coming off the rim in the SuperSpecial 4th stage and elected to retire from the stage and incur a penalty, which brought 3rd placed Jaco Baker perilously close to taking their overall position.

A sterling performance in stage 5 saw Van der Westhuizen comfortably beating the Baker brothers to pull back a safe gap.  The final stage was cancelled, allowing the young S2000 Challenge class rally driver to reflect on his day’s outing.

"The Fiesta is a great little car but feels so slow coming from the Toyota Auris I used in Kwa Zulu Natal last week", said Van Der Westhuizen.  "After not finishing the first National Rally, this has helped with my confidence before the Sasol Rally next month".

Team owner Danie Van Der Westhuizen stepped into his class S1 SA Earthworks Toyota yaris and promptly won the class - with a stand-in navigator.  Wife Debby, who navigates for Van der Westhuizen Senior was unavailable and was helped out on the day by Dean Stokes, father of Andrew, who prepares the car.  They set the fastest class time in four of the five stages run.

Team Manager Rod Hering was impressed with his young driver’s performance: "Nic drove really well today which bodes well for the Sasol Rally next month.  He was convincing all day and is starting to show what he can do behind the wheel.  With a little more coaching, he will be a regular front-runner".

The next outing for the SA Earthworks Rally Team is the SCC East Rand regional Rally on 6th April, followed by the Sasol Rally on 19th and 20th April.

The SA Earthworks Team acknowledges their associate sponsors Construction Tyres High Power Equipment and Nguni Voyager (www.ngunivoyager.co.za)

Issued on behalf of the SA Earthworks Rally Team by Race Prep Motorsport Solutions