CONQUEST OF THE ZULU RALLY

Billed as the biggest and best rally ever organised in South Africa, the Zulu Rally is well in the sights of Team TOTAL, the biggest and best privateer in national rallying in the country. The Zulu Rally, a round of the African Rally Championship, and the Sasol South African National Rally Championship, is also a bid event for the FIA's World Rally Championship.

This is the major reason why the thirteen car Team TOTAL will pull out all stops to ensure that it puts up a good show on the event. The team are currently leading four of the seven classes in the South African Championship. Overall Ettiene Lourens is third on 38 points, Nicholas Ryan 4th on 34 points, Salie du Toit 5th on 33 points and J-P Damseaux 6th on 32 points.

In Class S2000 Etienne Lourens is third with 10 points in his Team TOTAL Toyota RunX. Nicholas Ryan in leading Class N4 in his Team TOTAL Bosal Subaru WRX on 15 points. The class leader in N3 is Chris de Wit in a Team TOTAL Toyota RunX. Jean Pierre Damseaux is leading Class A7 in his Toyota RunX, while Michael Houghton is first in his Team TOTAL Toyota Tazz in Class A5 on 24 points.

The Zulu Rally is the halfway stage of the SA Championship and all the Team TOTAL crews will be keen to improve their current standings further before the start of the second half of the season.

Etienne Lourens scored a solid second place on the Sasol Rally to follow his fourth overall on the Toyota Dealer Rally. He is confident that his car has been sorted and that he can mix it with the frontrunners in S2000. "Lourens has been given a free hand to drive the car as hard as he can and that too has made a major difference to his performance", Team TOTAL Manager, Andries van der Walt said.

"It is going to be interesting to see how the gaggle of Team TOTAL Class N4 entries shape against the likes of Alistair McCrae, John Lloyd and Robbie Head, who are coming from overseas. It is going to be quite a tussle", Van der Walt said.

Chris de Wit is working full steam to get his N3 Toyota RunX ready for the rally after a disastrous roll on the Sasol Rally recently. All the competitors in Class N3 will keep their eyes wide open to watch the progress of Mohammed Moosa who caught them napping on the Sasol Rally and nearly won the class but for a puncture on the second last stage. It was only Moosa's third national event in the Toyota RunX.

J-P Damseaux leading Class A7 in a Team TOTAL Toyota RunX and Michael Houghton leading Class A5 in a Toyota Tazz will be keen to extend their leads before the break in the season. In Class A6 Eugene Lourens in the 16v Team TOTAL Toyota Conquest surprised everybody with his performance on the Sasol Rally. He is currently 2nd in the class. His car may be able to perform better on the Zulu Rally, as his computer will be correctly mapped.

Lourens will have to cope with the attentions of both Schalk Bruger who is leading the class in a Toyota Corolla Rsi and Craig Trott in a Team TOTAL Toyota Corolla Rsi who is lying third. Trott has so far had a miserable season.