Rallying in South Africa receives a welcome boost this weekend at the Algoa National Rally with no fewer than five brand new four-wheel drive vehicles making their debut at round three of the National Rally Championship that gets underway in Kariega today. Cape Town driver Ismaeel Davids and his navigator Yusuf Ganief will step up from regional to national level in a state of the art Toyota Yaris that Davids and his Team ID Rally Team have spent the last two years building. Under the guidance of Glynn Hall, one of South Africa’s biggest motorsport brains, and a man synonymous with the hugely successful Dakar Hilux vehicles as well as Gazoo Racing in Australia and New Zealand, the car is certainly set to be a featured vehicle that draws lots of attention. Also moving into the top echelons of National Rallying are the Born to Fly Team of brothers Nico and Juandre Nienaber who have set the local scene alight with their speed and car-craft so far this season. They will be competing in their brand-new Rally Technic built Hyundai i20.

The Border Towing Team of Wade van Zummeren and Henry Adams as well as Jody van Zummeren and James Johnson will be in state of the art VW Motorsport built VW Polo’s as well as the privately built Liqui Moly Team VW Polo of Riekus Schmidt and Marco Griesel.

In total, fifteen of the forty-five entries are four-wheel drive cars, so rally fans are in for an absolute treat as these high powered vehicles take on some of the best rallying roads in the country. Today’s action sees the ceremonial start at the VW Auto Pavilion at 10h00 before the first stage gets underway at the Spiders Web area outside Despatch at 10h10 before heading to the Jachtvlakte area at 14h00 and then culminates with a night stage starting at 17h15 on tar on the Daniel Pienaar road where it crosses the R75 and residents are reminded that there will be road closures in this area for the duration of the rally stage. The bridge on top of the R75 will be closed from 14h00 on Friday the 25th (Exit 28 R334 Coega/ Uitenhage).

Round four of the National Rally Championship takes place on Saturday and will see the action move to the Longmore Forest with a very early start. The rally cars will tackle the first stage at 08h00 and spectators are encouraged to be there as early as possible as the access road to the Spectator Zone crosses a section of the track.

Please note that the Friday stages are free to view, and that access into Longmore Forest will be charged at R50 per car with card facilities available at the gate leading into the forest.

For more information go to www.algoarallyclub.co.za where a detailed spectator guide can be down loaded