Race fans and livestream audiences were treated to a packed programme of dazzling motor racing at the fourth round of the Southern African Endurance Series Connected by Vodacom 4U which featured three races each for the SA Sports and GT and GT Cup, MRSSA Motorcycles and Silvercup 2.0 categories.
Sport & GT incorporating GT Cup:
Qualifying saw Charl Arangies set the fastest time in his Vaal Fluid Systems Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by Damian Hammond who rolled out his new Samlin Racing/Liqui Moly Mercedes-AMG GT3. Xolile Letlaka slotted into third on the grid in his Into African Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, with Henk Lategan completing the second row of the grid in his SAC Commercial Parts Porsche GT3 Cup.
Charl Visser (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Ricky Giannoccaro, who debuted his Ravenol Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo completed row three, followed by Mo Mia (Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup), Wayne Roach (Samlin Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Super Trofeo) and the rest of the field.
The first race got underway on Friday afternoon; Arangies led from lights to flag but a great scrap for second, between Hammond and Letlaka played out behind. Letlaka powered his Lamborghini into second place on lap three, relegating Hammond to third where the podium finishers stayed to the chequered flag.
Lategan held off Visser’s advances as they fought over fourth and fifth with Visser edging ever closer to Lategan until taking the position from the multiple SA Rally-Raid champion on lap eight.
As the race evolved and Giannoccaro got to grips with his new car he carved his way through the pack to take sixth position. Roach, Nicky Dicks (Curvent Porsche 991.2), Mo Mia and Jay Jay Deysel (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) rounded out the top ten.
Race two on Saturday saw a repeat result for Arangies, once again leading from lights out to the flag. Letlaka was much closer this time around and pushing the Porsche hard until he spun in Sunset corner which dropped the Into Africa car to fifth, behind Hammond’s Mercedes, as well as Visser and Lategan’s Porsches.
Giannoccaro brought his bright pink Lamborghini home in sixth place, ahead of Mia and Dicks, who spun to the back of the field on lap 12 before scything past his rivals to end in eighth.
Roach and Marius Jackson (MJR Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) round out the top ten.
It was all change at the front of the third race. Letlaka started from pole position and made no mistakes as he scorched into the lead, hounded all the way by Arangies. Over the final three laps, Arangies tried every trick in the book to take the lead, but Letlaka held his nerve and drove perfectly to cross the line to take a hard-earned victory with Arangies glued to the rear of the winning car.
Hammond had to settle for third, followed by Visser in fourth and Lategan in fifth. Dicks took sixth from Mia, followed by Deysel, Riaan Bouwer (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
MRSSA Motorcycles:
Tristan Pienaar on his Honda CBR 1000 RRSP set the fastest time in Qualifying followed by Troy Tonkin on his brand new KTM RC 8C – one of only one hundred machines built annually by the Austrian manufacturer – and Ora Phiri aboard his Yamaha YZF-R6.
James Dent led the Unlimited field on his Yamaha YZF-R1 in fourth followed by his fellow class rider Jordan King on a similar Yamaha and David Veringa on a BMW M 1000 RR.
Leon Horn topped the BOTTS V4 all Ducati class from Alan Hulscher and Mick Landi.
The first race scheduled for Friday afternoon was cancelled as late afternoon rain fell across Kyalami. The Saturday morning warm-up session was converted into an eight-lap race.
Pienaar made an excellent start and held off the chasing pack, followed home by Tonking on his new KTM. Phiri struggled in the opening race with a throttle issue and intermittent power loss and fell down the order to ninth, leaving the way open for King to complete the first podium of the day.
Boikanyo Mabaso (Yamaha YZF-R1), who qualified in eighth, clawed his way through the field to take fourth ahead of Veringa and Masters rider Ryan Futter (Kawasaki ZX10-RR), Siya Shabalala (Yamaha YZF-R1) and BOTTS V4 class winner Leon Horn.
Behind Phiri, BOTTS V4 man Alan Hulscher aboard his Ducati Panigale V4R rounded out the top ten.
Race two saw Phiri bounce back while race one winner Pienaar crashed out on the opening lap. Tonking took another second place on his new KTM with King picking up another podium.
Horn had a superb race on his Ducati to finish fifth with Jacobus Visser (BMW S1000 R) taking sixth, 0.2 seconds ahead of Mabaso in seventh with Hulscher in eighth, Futter and Shabalala.
The final two-wheeler race saw Pienaar start from the back of the grid which did not stop him from blasting his way to the front to claim his second win of the day. Tonking made it three second places from three starts while Phiri, who will be racing in China this weekend, rounded out the final podium.
The consistent Veringa scooped up another set of fourth place points, with King coming home in fifth followed by Futter, again leading the way in the master’s class.
Horn, Mabaso, Tshabalala and Visser rounded out the top ten.
Silvercup 2.0:
A grid-bursting forty-six cars took the Kyalami circuit for the Friday afternoon Qualifying session where Carlo Garbini rocketed his BMW to pole position, some 3.2 seconds quicker than second-placed Tiaan Coetzer’s Opel Tigra. Newcomer Jared Rossouw took third in his Volkswagen Supacup.
Multiple Silvercup champion Marius Jacobs (Opel Tigra-Nissan), who hung up his helmet after the Kyalami race, placed fourth while his 17-year-old daughter Morgan, racing at Kyalami for the first time, qualified her Class A+ Volkswagen Corrado in a respectable 26th.
Marnus du Plessis headed class B in his fearsome Nissan Primera with EW Hatting topping Class C in his VW Polo while Sean Hepburn topped the class D qualifying in his AA Datsun 1400 GX.
The first race on Friday afternoon was red-flagged twice as chaos erupted on the rain-soaked Kyalami, with cars sliding off all over the circuit. Fifteen retirements were recorded before a five-lap race was completed which was won by Rossouw on his debut in the Nathan Motorsport-run Polo Supacup.
Du Plessis kept his Nissan Primera on track to claim second overall with Dirk Lawrence taking the final step of the podium in his Honda Ballade.
Shaun Lampbrecht ended fourth in his BMW, 0.03 seconds ahead of Marius Truter’s VW Golf Mk 1. Petrus van Oordt raced to sixth in his Opel Tigra, followed by Jonathan Visser’s Volkswagen Polo. The Silvercup championship leader Faudo Sidique took a cautious eighth overall with B. Luyt (BMW) and MC Lensley in a Nissan Sentra.
One of the pre-race favourites, Giulio Airaga retired his Opel Tigra Spaceframe after three laps but bounced back in style to win race two on Saturday morning in dry and cool conditions.
Du Plessis took another second overall, and Class B win in his Primera, with Truter fighting hard to take third position in his potent Golf. Lampbrecht added another fourth to his tally with Tiaan Coetzer trailing home in fifth. Lawrence had a good outing in his Honda to take seventh, ahead of Silvercup club chairperson Marius Jacobs in his Tigra-Nissan. Visser and Luyt filled the top ten.
Jared Rossouw took the final Silvercup win, giving the rookie driver two wins from three starts. Du Plessis cemented his second place for the third time with Truter fighting hard to take third position.
Werner Kotze brought his fire-spitting, three-wheeling 1969 vintage Mazda R100 Rotary home in fourth to the cheers from the crowd after his energetic driving display. Lawrence took a strong fifth place finish in his Honda, followed by Visser’s VW Polo, Lampbrecht’s BMW and Marius Jacobs who finished his final race in eighth. Sidique took ninth with the defending Silvercup champion Chris Cronje rounding out the top ten in his Toyota Spaceframe.
The next round of the Sports and GT, GT Cup and MRSSA Motorcycles takes place at the SA Endurance Championship Connected by Vodacom 4U at the Four Hours of Zwartkops on 10 and 11 October.
