Nick Davidson and his navigator Ashley Bezuidenhout announced their dominant return to winning form at the Imperium Auto Parts Rally that was held on and around the outskirts of Aldo Scribante Raceway on Saturday. The event was the opening round of the 2024 Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club Championship and saw the Stu Davidson & Sons sponsored Toyota Auris romp to a massive 1 minute 16 sec win over Riekus Schmidt and Juan Swart in a VW Polo 1600 in second a mere 2.8 seconds ahead of Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie in their Hella backed VW Polo 1600 who came home in third place.

The rally, that is billed as the ideal spectator rally due to the fact that more than one car at a time can be viewed at a time whilst on a stage, was held in overcast conditions with occasional light drizzle just adding to the excitement that kept the appreciative crowd entertained.

There were some harrowing moments for Oliver de Man and Ingrid Jeacocks in their Ocean Truck Sales Toyota Corolla when they plunged off one of the tyre embankments and somehow managed to avoid rolling the car and continue with minimal damage to complete the rally.

Jody van Zummeren and James Johnston were unfortunately not so lucky when the brakes on their Border Towing & Recovery Datsun 510 SSS Coupe failed as they approached a high speed corner ending up with them rolling out of contention into the bushes.

There was more drama on the tar section of the circuit early in the rally when the engine of Des Timm and Sue Human’s Subaru exploded in spectacular fashion leaving a massive pall of blue smoke hanging over the track.

For national competitors Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie the event was used as an ideal shakedown for this weekend’s upcoming Cape Swartland Rally in the Malmesbury area that serves as the first and second round of the 2024 National Rally Championship.

Navigator Fourie was happy with the result stating that the only issue that they had was fuel starvation in the long left hand corners on the race track stages, other than that the car was faultless and they are certainly ready for the Cape Rally. Joining them in the 28 car line-up will be Oliver de Man & Ingrid Jeacocks in their classic Toyota Corolla where they will be racing in the NRC5 class.     

The results of the Imperium Auto Rally per class are as follows

ARC1

• 1st  Nick Davidson & Ashley Bezuidenhout – Toyota Auris 4×4
• 2^nd  Martin van Zummeren & Henry Adams – VW Polo 4×4
• 3^rd  Wade van Zummeren & Lloyd Brady – Datsun Skyline 2.8L

ARC3

• 1^st  Johan Viljoen & Juane’ Viljoen – VW Polo 2L
• 2^nd  Francois Laubscher & Mark Irvine – VW Polo 1L Turbo
• 3^rd  Oliver de Man & Ingrid Jeacocks – Toyota Corolla 2L

ARC4

• 1^st  Riekus Schmidt & Juan Swart – VW Polo 1600
• 2^nd  Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie – VW Polo 1600
• 3^rd  Juan van Rooyen & Tarryn van Rooyen – VW Polo 1600

ARC5

• 1^st  Francois Vermaak & Handre van Schalkwyk – VW Golf A1 1400
• 2^nd  Ruan van Tonder & Chanell van Tonder – VW Polo 1400
• 3^rd  Gareth Hewitt & Kacey Myburgh – VW Polo 1400

Clubman Class

• 1^st  Francois Vermaak & Handre van Schalkwyk – VW Golf A1
• 2^nd  Philip Weise & Caden Weise – Toyota Conquest
• 3^rd  Martin Kleingeld snr & Martin Kleingeld jnr – Toyota Corolla SR5

The next rally, scheduled for the 11^th May is the Paardepoort Rally, that will take place on either side of the R75 on the way to Jansenville, in the Mayogi/Paardepoort area.