Special Stages 6, 8 and 9 on the Total Rally of South Africa produced their fair share of drama.

Sifiso Mhlangu and Ntombi Masilela rolled their Rallystar Subaru Impreza GT on Special Stage 7, which was won by Nicholas Ryan and Schalk van Heerden in a Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Ryan and van Heerden rolled their Subaru Impreza WRX STi into retirement on Special Stage 8 while unofficial reports have Fernando Rueda and Martin Botha in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 listed as retired on Special Stage 9.

JP Damseaux and Cobus Frey’s rally came to a fiery end when oil leaking from a power steering pump onto the exhaust ignited and the Total Toyota RunX RSi caught fire on Special Stage 9.

Castrol Toyota crew Serge Damseaux and Robert Paisley continue to lead in their Class S2000 RunX RSi and have a 47-second cushion on Ettienne Lourens and Andre Vermeulen in the Class S2000 Total Toyota RunX RSi, who picked up a 15-second penalty earlier during the event.

Jannie Habig and Douglas Judd (Class S2000 Volkswagen Polo) are provisionally third overall and 1m 11s down on the leaders while Zimbabweans Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh occupy fourth place overall and lead Class N4 in their Subaru Impreza WRX STi. The Zimbabwean crew trail Damseaux and Paisley by 1m 52s and are under pressure from Class A7 leaders Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries in the Volkswagen Golf who are only 5-seconds behind.

Original article from Car