Eastern Cape motor racing fans are in for a treat as the second race of the SA Endurance National Championship heads to the Aldo Scribante Raceway in Gqeberha where some of the most exotic racing cars in the country will battle it out for top honours in the Five-Hours of Aldo Scribante, racing deep into the night.
Leading the title chase after the opening round is Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Ryan Naicker after claiming a thrilling victory in the Rico Barlow Racing/Adjust for Sleep Nova NP02. However, Adcock and Jensen will be absent from this event as they are competing in the opening round of the European Le Mans Series in Barcelona on the same weekend.
Rico Barlow Racing will instead field a talented trio of young drivers headed by Naicker who is joined by Charl Michael Visser and Jonathan Thomas. All three have experience racing the Nova sports prototype machine and cannot be discounted from the list of outright winners.
Looking to capitalize on the absence of their title rivals, the reigning SA Endurance National Champions, Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White will be hunting for the biggest trophy on offer and looking to power their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo to the top step of the podium.
It is early in the season and the five point gap to the top of the championship log is not much of a hurdle for the experienced Into Africa team to overcome.
Fans at Aldo Scribante Raceway will witness the debut of the brand-new Ford Mustang built by the Australian firm Innovation Race Cars and set to be driven by multiple V8 Champion Julian Familiaris, Franco di Matteo and Romano Sartori. This beast, featuring a 6.2l V8 engine rated for 411kW and fitted with a Hollinger six-speed sequential gearbox, missed the opening round after the car’s late arrival in the country.
Another team that racegoers will watch with interest is the Gqeberha-based Scuderia Scribante entry of brothers Aldo and Silvio Scribante who are joined by the multi-SA champion Michael Stephen which should make the team a strong podium challenger aboard their Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
A fourth possible winner is the Stradale Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by the experienced pair of Charl Arangies and Arnold Neveling. The new Stuttgart machine made its debut at the opening round of the SAE Championship and stunned onlookers with its pace.
Mike McLoughlin and Steve Clark return to the track with their Backdraft Slingshot after the 7-litre Chevvy-powered machine missed the opening round due to a mechanical issue. Instead, the pair raced a Class D specification Backdraft Roadster entered in the premier Class A and claimed a stunning third overall to get their year off to a flying start.
Back in their monstrous machine, another podium is a very real possibility for the Kwa-Zulu Natal-based team, who also lead the Index of Performance National Championship standings.
Following their maiden class B victory in only their second race, Scuderia Rossi should start as the favourites for class honours in their exquisite Alfa Romeo Giulia QV. The four-driver squad is headed by Claudio and Mario Rossi who are joined again by Werner Vonk and Regard van Zyl. Mario missed the opening round so he has some catching up to do in the class title race.
The Mozambican-based Sphere Motorsport Toyota Altezza is led by Sergio Alvares with the experienced Marco da Cunha and Pieter van Heerden and finished a solid second in class last time out, their best result since joining the SA Endurance Championship.
Class C sees the resumption of the Volkswagen vs Honda battle as the intentions of Nathan Hammond and Keegan Campos in their Samlin Racing Polo GTi who ran faultlessly at last year’s Nine Hours of Kyalami are clear and will challenge the potent Honda Civic Type R of Paulo and Ricardo Loureiro and the Korridas Racing Golf GTi turbo of the Mozambican pair of Sandro Alves and Bruno Campos.
Class D houses the competitors challenging for the V8 Roadster National Championship and a fleet of identical Backdraft Roadsters will once again go to war for top honours.
The current V8 Roadster National Champions, Team Pesty’s Pretoria-based father and son duo of Harm and Barend Pretorius are in pole position to take the championship lead as the current international duo log leaders are absent from this round.
After a stunning debut drive in round one, the G-Rasteirinho Racing trio of Pedro Garcia, Andre Bettencourt and Remi Guigue are making their debut at the Gqeberha circuit with the intention of at least equaling their runner-up result at Zwartkops last month.
Phillip Meyer, Mark Harvey and Dean Wolson, regular pace setters in class D, should hustle their Team 23/Adapt/Swiss Hotel School Backdraft into a podium position and challenge hard for victory.
Another front running team is Gavin Rooke and Richard van Heerde in their Dutchman Browndeck Backdraft who will face off with the factory-entered duo of the experienced lady racer Fabienne Lanz and American driver Dan Hirsch.
Team Qhubani has added a third driver to their line up with Xolela Njumbuxa joining Fikile Holomisa and Setshaba Mashigo, a Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup Champion so there is plenty of talent and experience in the cockpit of the #11 Backdraft.
Rounding out the class D entry is Mario da Silva and debutant Jan van der Merwe and Peter Blofield teamed with regular racer Denver Branders who will be watched with keen interest.
1-Hour Dash
The first hour of the five-hour race features nine cars fighting for the One-Hour National Challenge Championship where Andrew Horne should be the pace setter in his Xena Chemicals Ligier-Honda JS49.
Horne has a four-point advantage over Antonie Marx after the V8 racer powered his Shelby Can-Am to a maiden podium last time out. The open-seater sports cars are expected to duel hard to top the timesheets but will need to keep an eye on their mirrors for Roy Obery’s potent Porsche 991.2 MR and Marius Jackson’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo.
Sun Moodley debuted his new Bigfoot Express Porsche GT3 Cup machine in the first round and acquitted himself well with a fifth-place finish and with more mileage under his belt, he should move up the order at the coastal track.
Aldo Scribante has also entered the 1-Hour Dash in his Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and will count the first hour as his stint of the Five-Hour race. Knowing his local track – named after his grandfather – like the back of his hand should put him in victory contention.
Damian Hammond always gives his all in his Liqui Moly Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo and should upset some of the race favourites.
Tyler Robinson (Volkswagen Polo SupaCup) and Kyle Visser (Volkswagen Polo Cup) should hammer it out to be the best of the hatchback runners.
Race Programme:
Thursday and Friday morning are dedicated to free practice sessions as teams prepare for the all-important qualifying session at 15h55. In addition, drivers face a mandatory one-hour night practice session at 19h00.
Saturday’s SAE track action starts at 08h50 with a warm-up session before the headline Five Hours of Aldo Scribante gets underway at 16h00.
Tickets cost R50 for Friday entry and R150 for a full day and night of high-octane racing action.
Southern African National Endurance Series connected by Vodacom 4U is supported by Silverlakes Farm Hotel, Dunlop Tyres, Proton and Foton, ATS Motorsport, Adapt Design & Sign, SuperSport, and Africa Race Together.
Where: Aldo Scribante Raceway, Gqeberha
When: 4th–5th April 2025
What: Round two: SA Endurance National Championship
