Sasol Racing Rally Team receives an Award at the PE Rally

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

In the wettest rally of this season’s South African National Rally Championship, Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton, winners of the first two rallies salvaged a third place podium finish at the Volkswagen Rally, this weekend. Team mates Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey ended in a solid fourth, resulting in Sasol Racing Rally Team scooping the Team Award, presented to the top two finishers from one team.

For Cronje, this was his first fully wet rally. “It was a challenging rally. I would say it was one of the most difficult events I’ve ever driven and was one of those events that never came to us. There wasn’t enough mileage left on Saturday to think about challenging any harder after the organisers’ canned two stages,” he said.

Williams and Vrey, winners of the Gauteng Rally last month, had an event William’s described as testing. He said, “I was cautious in the first stage and didn’t take any risks in the second stage. The Sasol Fiesta S2000 rally car felt good and I was driving at a comfortable pace to stay in the hunt.”

Three of the 12 stages were cancelled due to heavy rainfall and only 34 of the original 42 starters reached the final Parc Ferme in Port Elizabeth.

Alan Cameron, Managing Director at Sasol Oil said, “We are pleased with the team’s results, as they persevered during the challenging conditions. Safety is paramount to Sasol and we fully agreed with the organising committee’s decisions as they were not only mindful of the participants’ safety, but also about the spectators and communities around them.”

The fifth round of the SA Rally Championship is a World Rally Championship Candidate event in Kwa-Zulu Natal on the 17th and 18th August.

About Sasol Racing

Sasol has been involved in motorsport since 1962 and is considered one of the pioneers in the development of racing fuels.

Sasol’s world class fuels are scrutinised at its state of the art testing facility in Muizenberg, Cape Town. Sasol’s extensive investment in fuels and oil research and development has made this facility much sought-after in the industry. The output and knowledge gained from the facility’s research plays a significant role in fuelling motorsport in South Africa.

The company’s involvement in motorsport also extends to track racing with Sasol Racing Track Team, piloted by super-star driver Hennie Groenewald and Richard Pinard.