information supplied by: MSA Rally Commission 17 July 2012
This weekend is just what we needed!

On the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally a puncture four stages from the finish cost Jannie Habig/Robert Paisley in their Basil Read M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 a win. The past weekend it was a problem demister that probably also cost them a possible win.

It is common knowledge now that the event was run in atrocious conditions. Conditions that tested the experience and abilities of the crews to the utmost. At the end of Day one Jannie Habig was second overall a mere 5.1 seconds behind the leader, Johnny Gemmell in the Team Castrol Toyota Auris.

“I could not have asked for a better position to be in for day two. The car was handling well and we had come to grips on how to drive in the very wet, slippery and muddy conditions. We were full of confidence that day two would belong to us”, Habig said.

“But then Murphy’s law struck and out of the blue the demister decided that it was not his day. This problem cost us some 23 seconds on the stage and at the end of stage two we were about 28 seconds behind Gemmell.

“But that is when the adrenaline kicked in and we took up the chase. We won three stages in a row and brought Gemmell’s lead down the 16.1seconds with one final short tar stage to go. And that was it. We were 12.5 seconds short of the win”, he said.

“The VW Rally taught us a lot. We found that the car handled very well under such bad conditions. Apart from the demister, the engine worked like clockwork.“After three consecutive fourth positions overall, we were delighted with our second. Given that this was only the fourth round of the championship I am delighted to find ourselves second on the championship log, trailing Gemmell by six points and Cronje by seven.

Given the way the car performs and the fact that our confidence in the car increases with every rally, we have a lot to look forward to on the last four events of the year.

“This past weekend, the weather and the conditions, is, as far as I am concerned, the best thing that could have happened to us in our in our progress with the Ford”, Habig added.

“I have not felt so confident and buoyed in years”, he concluded.