VW Rally 2016 – Day 2 – Tegan Smith Photography

Day 2 was a chilly start in the Longmore Forest. I only stayed to watch stage 10 but followed closely on twitter before and after this stage (via @SARallying). Very little cars came through compared to day 1. The favourite for the Rally, the VW Beetle, was sold on day 1 and therefore pulled out from the competition. I was SO looking forward to seeing it in the forest. Nonetheless the forest is always my favourite place to capture the rally. It is full of exciting photo opportunities and seems to be a favourite for the drivers too. It is also one of the most difficult days as these stages are a make or break for the teams. I quite enjoyed standing near to the finish line this year as one sees the state of the cars as they finish the stage and one can only imagine what they must go through at such a high speed. Lost bumpers, wheels and a few non-finishers is what stage 10 had to offer – as well as a flawless view for my photos. These are a few snaps I took before heading back to PE: Above: Leeroy Poulter & Elvene CoetzeeAbove: Giniel de Villiers & Carolyn SwanAbove: Guy Botteril & Simon Vacy-Lyle Above: Richard Leeke & Henry KohneThe dust was swept away by an icy wind and created beautiful landscape photos. Above: Neels Vosloo & Ria JansenAbove: Johan Viljoen & Juane Viljoen Above: Missing a front tyre – Steph Pieterse & IIlario PieterseAbove: Ismaeel Davids & JP Jacobs Above: Ruan Gerber & Ashley Bezuidenhout Above: Rufus Neethling & Henry Adams Above: Pierre van der Berg & Riaan van Hyssteen Above: The flying finish!