Read all the latest news on Marks Season here. MAY 2010  Heavy impact ends Marks SA Rally Johnny Gemell took his Castrol Team Toyota Auris S2000 to a superb win in challenging conditions in the Rally of South Africa on the 28th and 29th May. The Toyota RunX S2000s of JP Damseaux and Fernando Rueda filled the third and fourth positions overall to secure the Manufacturer’s Award for Toyota. While the results will record this as the most exciting and closest finish in the history of rallying in South Africa – Gemmell’s winning margin was just seven tenths of a second at the end of the 180 kilometre long event – Castrol Team Toyota showed its form from just the second stage with Mark Cronje and Johnny Gemmell recording the two fastest times. Day two was made up of eight medium length stages followed by two passes through a short Super Special stage in Ermelo. Mark Cronje’s day started badly with a heavy impact with an earth bank that led to his retirement. APR 2010  Toyota takes Manufacturer's Award in Sasol Rally The 2010 Sasol Rally, staged in treacherous wet and misty conditions over the weekend, saw Toyota win the manufacturers’ award and score class wins in four of the five classes contested. Second and fourth places overall for Johnny Gemmell and Mark Cronje in their Castrol Team Toyota Auris S2000s backed by a fifth place for Hein Lategan in his Pirtek Auris S2000 sealed the important manufacturers’ award for Toyota. SEPT 2009  CAPE SWARTLAND  RALLY Mark Cronjé and Robert Paisley dominated the seventh and penultimate round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship taking their class S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris to a 10.4 second victory after winning over half the stages making up the BP Ultimate Rally route. OSRAM RALLY Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh stormed back into championship contention by winning the Osram Rally, round 6 of the 2009 Sasol South African Rally Championship. Completing a perfect day at the office for the factory Castrol Toyota squad, Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley finished a strong 2nd overall, giving the class S2000 Toyota Auris its first 1 - 2 finish since making its debut on this event exactly one year ago. MAY 2009  RALLY OF SOUTH AFRICA Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries blasted their S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo to an easy 23-second lead to win the fourth round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, the Rally of South Africa, held in Ermelo and surrounding areas this weekend.  The factory Castrol Toyota team had a disappointing outing with early rally leader Mark Cronjé/Robert Paisley hampered by a broken gear linkage in the Jessievale stage, leaving the Auris stuck in fifth gear, which cost the pair three minutes. Cronjé rocketed into an early 33-second lead after the opening 35km-long pair of stages but it wasn't to be his day, finishing the 13-stage, 198km route fourth overall. APRIL 2009  SASOL RALLY  The battle for Sasol Rally honours was a titanic three-way fight between the three drivers Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh, Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley in the second S2000 Castrol Auris but as the rally headed to a breathtaking finale, Cronje backed off to bag his first podium of the season.   Fekken took charge of the Sasol Rally with two early stage wins, building up a 13 second lead after the opening day’s six stages. Gemmell in second place was a single second ahead of team mates Cronje/Paisley, so the stage was set for an incredible fight over the remaining eight stages. TOYOTA DEALER RALLY  Reigning South African Rally Champion Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries, overcame a long and grueling battle to win the Toyota Dealer Rally, in Somerset West. His margin of victory was a mere nine seconds from BP Volkswagen Polo team-mates Jan Habig and Douglas Judd, after two days and 170 km of gravel racing stages. In fridays first four stages Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh (Castrol Toyota Auris) led the way, but lost the lead on Saturday's opening stage, dropping nine seconds behind Fekken and Arries, and a further four seconds behind Habig and Judd. The two BP Volkswagen team mates traded punch for punch, leaving Gemmell to settle for third position, 31 seconds in arrears. Fourth was Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley (Castrol Toyota Auris), a further 1 m 45s behind, with 2006 champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson (BP VW Polo) in fifth. MARCH 2009  TOTAL TOUR NATAL RALLY Johnny Gemmell and his Zimbabwean co-driver Peter Marsh were the provisional winners of the season-opening TOTAL Tour Natal Rally in KwaZulu Natal on Saturday afternoon, giving the class S2000 Toyota Auris its first outright national championship rally victory. The two-day event, round one of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, was a race of attrition, with two of the favourites crashing out in the first special stage on Friday and the overnight leader rolling his car on to its roof on the second stage on Saturday morning. Gemmell, who won three of the 14 stages and was never headed after early leader and Castrol Toyota Auris team-mate Mark Cronje rolled on stage nine, completed the event in a time of 1h 50m 23s.

Photography credit: motorpics.co.za Photography credit: motorpics.co.za Photography credit: motorpics.co.za