A full house of SA Endurance support races for the Porsche-based GT Cup SA, Sports & GT cars and MRSSA Motorcycles kept the hardy spectators who braved the Cape rains entertained ahead of the Six Hours of Killarney feature race.
The first races for each category were held in sunny but cool conditions on Friday afternoon, a stark contrast to what awaited the competitors on Saturday, when the Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town was swept by rain showers throughout the day.
GT Cup SA
Charl Arangies comfortably qualified his Stradale Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R on pole, 5.3 seconds faster than Divan Wentzel’s 911 GT3 Cup car. Nicky Dicks (Curvent 911 GT3 Cup) and Mo Mia (991.2 GT3 Cup) were 0.295 seconds apart, promising some close racing to follow.
Arangies strolled into the distance in the first race, ending just under half a minute ahead of Wentzel. Mia and Dicks had a terrific scrap over third, with Mia taking his first podium of the weekend by a slender four-tenths of a second over Dicks.
Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express 911 GT3 Cup) headed JJ Deysel in his 997 GT3 Cup car with Maarten Prins (911 GT3 Cup) squeaking home ahead of Deven Pillay in a similar GT3 Cup car. Jimmy Giannoccaro rounded out the top ten in his G&H Transport-backed Porsche 997.
Saturday brought a soaking track for race two but that did not stop Arangies from lapping the entire field which saw Dicks take a strong second from Andre van Vuuren (996 GT3 Cup). Deysel and Prins put on a terrific show of bumper-to-bumper racing with Deysel crossing the line just under a second ahead of Prins. Moodley, Pillay and Mia completed the runners.
The final race was another Arangies benefit, once again lapping the entire field. Dicks took another second place from Deysel, Mia and Prins. Moodley, Pillay and van Vuuren cautiously rounded out the top eight.
Overall honours went to Arangies following his domination, followed by Dicks and Deysel
Sports & GT
Local knowledge played into the hands of Dayne Angel who banked pole position in his Autohaus Angel Ferrari 488 GT3. Xolile Letlaka took his place on the front row in his Into Africa Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, followed by the championship leader Damian Hammond (Liqui Moly Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo 2). Joining him on row two was another local racer, Tate Bishop in a Juno sports car.
Friday’s opening race saw the top four qualifiers finish as they had started while just behind, Mike Verrier (BMW Z4) took fifth off Andrew Horne’s Xena Chemicals Ligier JS49 by less than half a second. Wayne Roach came home in seventh after a lonely race aboard his Samlin Racing Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo.
The second race took place early on Saturday on a wet circuit. Damian Hammond fought hard to pass Angel’s Ferrari in an electrifying race that saw the Lamborghini best the Ferrari by 0.4 seconds. Byron Mitchell took the final step of the podium in his Ligier JS53, well ahead of Horne’s Ligier JS49.
Roach brought his Lambo home in fifth, fractionally ahead of Letlaka who spun in turn two and dropped well down the order. His comeback drive was scintillating as he clawed his way back into sixth.
The final race saw Mitchell take the win in his Ligier, comfortably ahead of Hammond and Horne who was all over the back of the Lamborghini, finishing in third and 0.6 seconds off second place.
Letlaka brought his Huracan home in fourth ahead of Angel and Gianni Giannoccaro who wheeled out his Nissan GT-R Nismo for the final race.
Hammond took the overall top spot from Angel and Letlaka.
MRSSA Motorcycles
The Motorcycle Racing Series SA featured two races each for the Senior SBK riders and the Club SBK riders.
From the outset, Tristin Pienaar dominated proceedings in the 1000cc SBK class, storming to pole position by nearly a second astride his Honda CBR 1000 MRSP, heading Damion Purificati’s BMW S 1000 RR. Ora Phiri set a blistering qualifying lap to head the 600cc brigade, comfortably ahead of Ryan van Nieuwkerk who was marginally quicker than Troy Tonkin, all riding Yamaha’s potent YZF-R6 machines.
The all-Ducati Battle of the Twins (BOTTS) class saw Leon Horn quickest from Alan Hulscher and Mick Landi. Jaco Gous (Suzuki GSX-R) topped the Masters class from Robert Ferreira (BMW S 1000 RR) and Ryan Futter (Kawasaki ZX-10).
The opening race on Friday saw Pienaar streak into the lead, opening a gap of ten seconds over Purificati. A superb ride had Phiri in third overall and top of the 600cc brigade, well ahead of van Nieuwkerk and Masters class winner Gous.
Horn, Hulscher and Landi took the top three places in the BOTTS class.
It was a very brave grid of bike racers who lined up in cold and rainy conditions for their second race.
Once again, Pienaar took line honours from an inspired ride by Futter in the Masters class and Tonkin heading up the 600cc class.
Overall honours for the weekend went to Pienaar with Futter and Tonkin filling out the podium.
David Veringa (BMW M 1000 RR) scorched to pole position in the Unlimited 1000cc bikes class, 0.4 seconds up on Siya Shabalala (Yamaha YZF-R1). Jordan King took third on his YZF-R1, missing a front row slot by 0.3 seconds.
Jamie Hall (Suzuki SRAD 750) was quickest of the classics with Dieter Huysamen (Kawasaki ZX-10 RR) setting the pace in the Open Superbike class.
King was tenth heading into the first corner on Friday afternoon yet worked his way up to take the chequered flag by a second after 10 laps of hard racing. Tshabalala took second ahead of Veringa and Hall.
Johan Le Roux (Kawasaki ZX-10 R) came home fifth followed by Huysamen.
Veringa made no mistake in Saturday’s wet race, taking the win by 18 seconds from King and Hall. Clive Turnbull (Yamaha YZF-R1) was fourth followed by Nkululeko Majola on his YZF-R1 machine. Huysamen rounded out the top six.
Overall honours went to Veringa, King and Hall.
The next round of the Southern African Endurance Series connected by Vodacom 4U is the Four Hours of Kyalami on 26th July.
The Southern African Endurance Series is proudly supported by Vodacom 4U, Foton and Proton, Dunlop Tyres, ATS Motorsport, Silverlakes Farm Hotel and SuperSport.
