In what has long been the most spectacular event on the rally calendar, the annual Total Rally challenged competitors with its gritty mixture of heat, humidity and slippery gravel roads crisscrossingthe sugarcane plantations of the South Coast.
With 32 crews vying for victory, the competition was fierce.
In the first of the 16 stages, drama struck when the Castrol Team Toyota Auris, driven by Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee, flew off the road 4km from the start.
With a white-hot exhaust system quickly setting fire to the foliage, their Auris was reduced to a flaming wreck in a matter of minutes.
But they wouldn't be the only team left nursing a case of first-day blues.
Further down in the S1600 class, Stefanie Botha and Angela Shields were forced to quit after rolling their Team Total Toyota RunX in Stage Five.
Fortunately they were not injured, but the damage to their car relegated them to the spectator points for the rest of the event.
On the plus side, they at least enjoyed more seat-time than Clint Weston and Herman Groenewald who, while romping through Stage Three, decided to test the strength of their Citroën's roll cage.
Of course there was a lot more than the occasional crash to keep rally fans interested in the first day of the season-opener.
Big news on everybody's lips was the debut of the brand new BP Volkswagen Racing Polo in the ultra competitive S2000 class. More closely based on its road-going cousin than ever before, this evil-eyed, wide-arched dirt-slinger looked formidable in the hands of South African rally veterans Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson.
At the end of Friday's final stage - a night-time driftathon opposite the Moses Mabhida Stadium - the duo were just 2.5 seconds behind the Basil Read Ford Team Fiesta, piloted by Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich.
Unfortunately, their Volkswagen teammates, Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries, were not as lucky. Their Polo suffered ongoing electrical issues that would eventually force them to retire on Saturday morning.
With predicted rain giving way to a blazing sun, day two's proceedings were dominated by Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in the Team Sasol Ford Fiesta.
Starting with an overnight deficit of 32.5 seconds, Cronje pulled out all the stops to bag six stage wins in a comeback drive that defied belief.
This culminated in a thrilling dice to the finish against the second Castrol Team Toyota Auris, driven by Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan.
While they were never separated by more than a few seconds, the victory champagne was eventually handed to Cronje and Houghton, after Gemmel made a mistake in the final stage.
Day one leaders Wilken and Godrich went on to snatch third place.
The second Basil Read Ford Team Fiesta of Jan Habig and Robert Paisley finished fourth, with the BP Volkswagen Racing Polo of Kuun and Hodgson 10.4-seconds behind them in fifth.
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