An exciting year of rally action lies ahead for the Volkswagen Sasolracing rally team. The 2014 national season starts in March with the first round taking place in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The Volkswagen Sasolracing team is passionate about competition,” says Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “The only constant is change and this is especially true in the field of motorsport. Over the years events have changed, rules have changed, cars have changed and we’ve seen a few changes when it comes to team members.”
“The end of the 2013 season saw us bid farewell to Hergen Fekken, Enzo Kuun and Douglas Judd, team stalwarts of many years. Hergen, Enzo and Douglas have been valuable members of the team during their years of competition and each will move on to different challenges in the new year. Pierre Arries has a non-competition role within the team for this season.”
“Currently we are evaluating our options with regard to the driver line-up for 2014,” says Rowe. “We expect to make an announcement by mid-February for the Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000s. What I can confirm at this stage is the inclusion of a number of exciting, young privateer teams who will be competing on the national stage in Volkswagen Polo rally cars.”
The newcomers will be led by Thilo Himmel and Armand du Toit who will tackle the S2000 Challenge category. In the S1600 class Paulus Franken, Marco Himmel, Chad van Beurden and AC Potgieter, along with each of their navigators will keep this category highly competitive in the 2014 season.
“Supporting Thilo and the other young teams is another step in accelerating the process of identifying new rally talent in South Africa,” says Rowe. “There is a need to increase the available motorsport talent and encourage and develop the next generation of stars.”
