Jan Habig Rallying

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Habig still second despite disappointment

19 August 2013

Despite bitter disappointment at the end of the Ford Rally on Saturday, Jan Habig has retained his second place in the South African National Rally Championship.

"I am devastated," said Habig at the start of the final stage of the Gauteng event. "One tends to really believe that things do happen in threes. At the start this morning we had been given a 20-second penalty for a wrong slot in yesterday's final Mickey Mouse stage, and dropped from second overall to third spot."

"We soldiered on and then lost time with a left rear puncture and this dropped us another 34 seconds, and we were suddenly in ninth spot overall. Slowly we fought back again, and were only two seconds off fourth place, and were waiting to start the final stage of the day, and suddenly the car wouldn't start. I just couldn't believe it - there were no warning signs, the engine just cried enough."

This was the first mechanical/electrical fault the Basil Read Ford Fiesta team has experienced in twelve events.

"Once we get her back to the workshop on Monday, we will investigate and hopefully it is just a minor problem," added Habig.

"A very small consolation is that we are still second on the championship, but Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton now have a comfortable 25-point lead over us. This leaves us with three events to go, and no room for error in our bid to get a 1-2 for Ford in the Championship."

For Ford as sponsor, it was an excellent event with the manufacturer winning all three of the 2013 challenges, namely overall honours for Cronje and Houghton in their Ford Fiesta, Van Niekerk and Snyman taking the S2000 challenge win, and Ashleigh Haigh-Smith winning the S1600 class.

The next event in the series will be held in Cape Town in September.

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