By Roger McCleery
GLOBAL MOTORSPORT OVERVIEW
Mercedes-Benz
set new records
Nico Rosberg had the best week of his life when Germany won the World Cup Soccer, he got
married and then went on to win his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim in a Mercedes-Benz
Silver Arrows Grand Prix car.
I
t is the first time since Formula 1 Grand
Prix racing got going in 1950 that a
German driver in a German car has won
the German Grand Prix.
To sweeten the pill even further Mercedes
Benz provided power for the first three cars
home – Rosberg, Bottas (Williams M-B)
and Lewis Hamilton, all racing in one of the
better Grands Prix that we have seen this
year.
Germany was also the country where
South African, Brad Binder, made his mark
in Moto3 Grand Prix motorcycle racing
with a close second place to Australian
Jack Miller (KTM) at the Saxon Ring near
Dresden. Brad gave his Indian Mahindra
motorcycle one of their best results after
leading the entire field at one stage to show
he is on top form.
A week before that another South African,
Dave McFadden (Kawasaki) riding in the
1000cc Super Stock World Championships
for Motorcycles in Portugal in the Algarve
got a 3rd also after leading the race in front
of some heavy competition.
Our boys are getting there on sheer talent.
Let’s hope they get noticed for factory
rides. Dave in 2013 was actually nominated
for the South African Guild of Motoring
Journalists’ Bridgestone Motor Sportsman
of the Year.
Johannesburg’s Jordan Pepper is leading
the international VW Sirocco Cup in
Germany – the Championship that Kelvin
van der Linde won in 2013 to kick-start his
international career.
This has carried on to him leading the 2014
GT Masters Championship amongst some
of the top drivers in the world in an Audi
RS V8. And he is only 18 and do ing his
Matric at school.
They had a huge off in the first stage of
this year’s rally in KZN. Looks good for a
close finish in 2014.
Kelvin also won the Driver of the Year
Award for the 2014 Young Driver
Excellence Academy run by the FIA.
The World Rally Championship is definitely
going the way of Frenchman Sebastian
Ogier (VW Polo) who hauls in win after
win.
He did this at Paul Ricard Circuit
(owned by Bernie Ecclestone) in France
a couple of weeks ago. Alex Wurz,
Grand Prix driver and Robert Reid,
former World Rally Champion navigator,
were the judges.
On the local front our competitors
on the dirt are locked in some great
contests. The Toyota Desert 1000 Race
was won by the reigning champion,
Anthony Taylor and Denis Murphy in
their Castrol Toyota Hi-Lux with their
team-mate Leeroy Poulter and Rob
Howie 2nd.
The Malelane Team of Johan and
Werner Horn made it a 1-2-3 for Toyota
with 5 Toyotas finishing in the top 10.
Good to see that the sponsors’ vehicles
also win cross-country events.
After the running of the VW Rally Leeroy
Poulter and Elvine Coetzee lead the
rally championship ahead of Hans Weijs
from Holland and his navigator Bjorn
Degandt from Belgium in their Polo.
Third is twice rally champion, Hergen
Fekken and Caroline Swan and
their Castrol Toyota Yaris. Reigning
champions, Mark Cronje and Robin
Houghton in their Ford Fiesta are
starting to close in with a win after a
slow start to the season.
| Wheels in Action
96
august 2014
Korean manufacturer, Hyundai and their
driver, Thierry Nieuville in their first season
of world championship rallying together
have been on the podium twice in two of
the toughest rallies in the world – Mexico
and Poland. They could start to be a real
threat to VW in 2015.
Something a little different is that Subaru
with Mark Higgins at the wheel took
the new WRX STI around the Isle of
Man TT course and set up a new car
record at an average speed of 188 kmh.
The motorcycle record stands at 213 kmh.
After scoring a historic
victory at Silverstone
the M-Sport Bentley
Continental GT3 won their
next race at Paul Ricard
in Southern France for the
team’s second victory in
a row. Don’t be surprised
about Bentley, the luxury
car firm, racing their cars.
They were the unbeatable
team in the early 30’s at
Le Mans.