The TOTAL Tour Natal Rally marks the official start of the 2009 Sasol SA Rally Championship.

The 2009 TOTAL Tour Natal Rally is the 51st event of the Tour Natal Rally and the first leg of this year's much anticipated South African National Rally Championship.

GWM SA was honored to be selected as one of the sponsors for this great Rally in 2009, together with TOYOTA SA, GWM became one of the only two sponsors from motor brands, and this is only because of the reliable performance and quality of GWM cars, and also the GWM SA slogan "Positively Driven" which is just in accordance with the spirit of this Sport.

GWM sponsored 10 vehicles includes Sailor and Steed as service and media cars during the whole rally, GWM SA just celebrated its second birthday which is 2 March, although GWM has only been in this market for 2 years, but because of the high P&P ratio and reliable quality, plus countrywide sales and service network, GWM achieved remarkable success on sales volume and brand image.

The TOTAL-sponsored round of the national championship has been a highpoint of every season for many years and this year sees TOTAL South Africa backing the opening round of the eight-round championship instead of the traditional TOTAL International Rally in Mpumalanga later in the season.

Organized by the Natal Motorcycle and Car Club, the TOTAL Tour Natal will have a ceremonial start at 10.00 on Friday (March 13) from the Sun Coast Casino in Durban before moving to the start of stage one at Scottburgh. The majority of the event's 15 special stages (over 180 km) are in the Scottburgh area, where a single service park will be in operation on both days at the Scottburgh Country Club. Day one will end in Pinetown with a short tar stage in the town, which each competitor will complete twice. The rally will restart at 07.30 on Saturday from Sun Coast Casino before returning to Scottburgh for the balance of the racing stages.