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The Toyota Dealer Rally Gauteng will see either the Castrol Toyota or BP Volkswagen driver take the title. A tie at the head of the leader board will ensure that Kuun, the 2006 champion, takes his second title on a count-back to second place finishes.
Should Kuun's usually bullet proof VW Polo fail to finish, which has happened once this year, Gemmell still has to win - second place is simply not an option.
The co-drivers' title is locked away in Volkswagen's trophy cabinet thanks to Kuun's route note reader Guy Hodgson. Gemmell's young Scottish navigator missed the Sasol Rally due to the Icelandic volcano ash airline lockdown back in April.
The tension on the Toyota Rally will be palpable.
Expect no heroics from Kuun as Gemmell's Castrol Toyota Auris is pushed to the limit and beyond in a quest for victory.
Gemmell's problem is that two other VW crews are capable of taking victory: double outgoing champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Jan Habig/Ralph Pitchford, both pushing hard for a final ego-boosting victory.
Kuun's title bid has been remarkable; three wins and three second-place finishes (with a single non-finish on the Rally of South Africa) from seven starts has earned the pair 138 points.
By contrast, Gemmell's Castrol Toyota Auris started the year in KwaZulu Natal on its side, while punctures and a seemingly incurable misfire robbing the crew of other winning opportunities.
A mid-season burst of two back-to-back wins on Rally SA and the VW Rally put Gemmell back in contention. The latest outing on the Swartland Rally saw the Toyota finish eighth while Kuun swept to a comfortable victory.
Rallying remains one of the most unpredictable forms of motorsport and Gemmell could yet get lucky - it's not over!
There is a new format for the 2010 Toyota Gauteng Rally: day one is run entirely on tarmac, meaning the scenario for the Japanese brand gets worse as other possible victors come into play.
The King of Tarmac this year has been Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich in their Bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000, virtually untouchable on hard-surfaced stages this year. Wilken could comfortably build up a substantial lead on Friday's tarmac stages and hold his own on the Bapsfontein-based gravel stages on day 2. The pair won consecutive Northern Regions Rally Championships in 2004/5 and knows what to expect from the terrain. The team has been plagued by bad luck over the past 12 months, which saw the Fiesta burnt to a crisp in KZN and they missed two subsequent rounds. A win would be a timely reward for the pair.
Ford won one rally this year, courtesy of the 25-year old Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh.
Driving an M-Sport built Ford Fiesta S2000, Rautenbach wiped the floor with SA rallying's best in the Western Cape in late March on his debut in the car. The former Citroen Junior Team WRC driver has been blisteringly quick everywhere, but prone to mishaps and has been unimpressive on hard surface stages; that said, he will drive his heart out and spectators can look forward to a spectacular show of raw talent, especially on Saturday's gravel stages.
Rautenbach and Marsh lead the new-for-2010 Privateers' Rally Championship by 9 points.
The second Castrol Toyota Auris, now in the hands of the 2010 class A6 champion Leeroy Poulter and co-driver Robert Paisley, could spring a surprise. Although in his debut year in the sport, the rally rookie has been spectacular in his class A6 RunX and was quickly snapped up the factory squad and is a former production car circuit champion; the tarmac stages could be the setting for something special.
Another crew that should fare very well on day one is Hein Lategan and Johan van der Merwe in their Pirtek Toyota Auris S2000. Lategan has been getting quicker and quicker this year, becoming a real threat to the factory VW and Toyota teams over the second half of the year and given a good run, could be on the podium.
Lategan's quicker pace has led to him finding the Auris' limits the hard and expensive way, suffering a huge accident on the Rally of SA.
The second Pirtek car in the hands of Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman has picked up the pace dramatically after a slow start to the season and should be good for a place well inside the top 10.
Team Totals' trio of S2000 Toyota RunX teams is headed by Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Carolyn Swan, second in the Privateers' title chase. Damseaux is an accomplished driver and could usurp Rautenbach on the privateers' leader board with a superior tarmac performance so this battle is one set to enthrall the spectators.
Fernando Rueda/Dave Lewkowicz, in a second Total RunX, will have their swansong event in Gauteng and the flamboyant Spaniard will be looking to go out with a solid result to wind down his career. Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin, after a tumultuous start to the year, have settled well into the top class and should be a top 10 contender.
Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (NAD Toyota Auris) is another pair looking to end the year on a high after a bruising season that has seen the Pretoria property developer ricochet off the scenery with more frequency than he would like.
Round out the 17-car strong S2000 entry is a foursome of Volkswagen privateers, led by Nicholas Ryan/Armand du Toit in their Jonnesway VW Polo.
Ryan, the 2006 Production Car Champion, has finished six of the 7 events held to date but often with mechanical problems along the way. Ryan should finish third on the privateers' log, but is only a single point ahead of Hein Lategan.
The fearless and Namibian Jaco van Dyk and his equally brave co-driver Des de Fortier have made their mark on the SA rally scene this year with some spectacular drives, but a car destroying accident on the Osram Rally dented their confidence and their unsponsored VW Polo, nicknamed Chucky after Van Dyk's youngest child.
Evan Hutchison/Elvéne Coetzee (Motorite VW Polo) started the year well but has endured a number of broken gearboxes that have halted them in their tracks. Hutchison, a former multiple off road racing champion, will also be pushing hard to end the year on a high.
The Pretoria Motor Club's Chairman, Mokopane-based Theuns Joubert and co-driver Carl Peskin (Salom VW Polo) should be in the mix for a top 10 result so a fierce battle behind the works teams awaits Gauteng's rally fans.
The 2010 Class A7 Champions Gugu Zulu/Cindi Harding (BP Ultimate VW Polo) are hoping their car will last the route after catching fire last time out, adding to the pairing's two class wins. Gavin Cronjé and 2010 class A6 Co-Driver Champion Henry Dearlove (Easylife VW Polo) have endured a horrid year, with just two finishes on their scorecard. The 2009 Le Mans Cup Champion should be at home on the hard surface though, and running at full chat, he is amazing to watch.
The Michael Otto/Tommy du Toit, the 2006 Northern Regions Champions, will make a rare national appearance in the potent Auto Doctor Toyota Corolla, which is still competitive as seen on the Sasol Rally when Otto won the class.
With the class A6 title in Leeroy Poulter's cupboard, the 1600cc fight will revolve around Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee (Total Toyota RunX) and Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Corolla), who are locked in a winner-takes-all fight for the 1600cc Championship. Irrespective of their finishing positions, whoever finishes ahead of the other, wins the title. Haigh Smith, jus 18 years and 2 months old and preparing for his matric final exams, clinched the Class A5 Championship on the Osram Rally after dominating the season.
Trott and Coetzee is the only pairing to finish every round this season and this championship is going to be settled by fractions of a point. A number of Northern Regions competitors running class A6 spec cars could enter the national event and mix things up a little.
Class A5 should see another dominant performance from the young Port Elizabeth-based Morné Janse van Rensburg/AN Other in their brand new GC Volkswagen Vivo. The car made an impressive debut on the Swartland rally next month and should be joined by Shaun Parsons/AN Other in a second Vivo.
Anyone running a Citi Golf will be left in their wake, such is the new entry-level rally weapon's superiority. Piet Bakkes/Paul van Wyk (A5 Sasol VW Citi Golf) will try as hard as he can to get the upper hand and road conditions could play into the veteran's hands.
The new class N4 champions, brothers Joos/Danie Stassen (Topgear Subaru Impreza STI) should have things their own way as they push for a fourth class win of the year. The defending regional S5 champions Sean and Gavin Hewitt should be in with a shout of a trophy in their Subaru Impreza WRX.
The class N3 driver's title is still looking for a home. Zimbabwean Robson Maganezi (Linking Africa Ford Fiesta ST) leads Megan Verlaque (Toyota RunX) by two points. The class co-driver's title belongs to Megan's brother Oliver Verlaque. The Verlaque siblings have won three of their last four outings, and the biggest threat should come from the Namibian pairing of Stefanie and father Willem Hugo in their Wiel Toyota RunX. The pretty Namibian driver claimed her maiden class win on the VW Rally in July.
The PMC-run Toyota Dealer Rally is also the 7th and penultimate round of the Northern Regions Rally Championship, so motorsport fans have a double dose of action to look forward to.
Route:
The Toyota Dealer Rally Gauteng starts at 13h00 at the Gerotek Vehicle Testing facility west of Pretoria and comprises four stages, including two runs on the infamous hill climb stage, which features dramatic changes in elevation and two passes over the vehicle dynamic handling track. The second run of each stage will be in the reverse direction.
The crews then head to Zwartkops Raceway for five laps of a 4km long stage that incorporates much of the original track around the old drive-in theatre.
Saturday's seven stages of high-speed action gets under way at 07h30 from Rallystar on the R51 road to Benoni where the first stage is followed by Frik 1 across the road. A superspecial follows - now 5.5km in length, after which teams tackle Tweefontein on the R25, and a repeat of the Rallystar stage, before taking on Frik 2. The season's grand finale is another run over the Superspecial stage.
All stages offer easily accessible, excellent spectating for the fans.
