The second round of the Southern African Endurance Series connected by Vodacom 4U was an unpredictable three-way thriller from lights out until the chequered flag fell at 21h00 after five hours of spectacular racing at the 2.5km Aldo Scribante Raceway in Gqeberha.
Through all the drama that unfolded, Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White powered their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo to an ultimately comfortable, two lap victory ahead of Charl Arangies and Arnold Neveling’s Stradale Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R while the Rico Barlow Racing/Adjust for Sleep Nova of Charl Visser, Ryan Naicker and Jonathan Thomas took the final step of the podium.
The race was a spectacular debut event for Vodacom 4U as the new SA Endurance Series title sponsor, attracting a new and younger audience to the circuit through their marketing to their extensive customer base. Vodacom 4U had a Scalextric track set up where spectators could win various branded items, and the fastest time of the weekend won a hot lap experience around the racetrack.
Qualifying:
Visser set the fastest individual lap time in the Nova at 57.118 seconds while Naicker did a 57.396 second lap with Thomas coming to the party with a 57.464 second lap time to give RBR pole position from Into Africa Racing by 0.94 seconds. The Nova had a coming together with the Di Matteo Mustang and suffered a broken rim and a bit of cosmetic damage which was quickly repaired.
Michael Stephen, Silvio and Aldo Scribante took third in their Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 just 0.092 seconds up on the Stradale Porsche where teammates Arangies and Neveling were perfectly matched with 0.007 seconds between them.
In class B, the Scuderia Rossi Alfa Romeo Giulia QV quartet of Claudio and Mario Rossi, Regard van Zyl and Werner Vonk took pole while their Mozambican rivals, Sphere Motorsport had leaking coil oil seals and never set a time waiting for spare parts to be flown in.
The Class C pole went to Paulo and Ricardo Loureiro in their Combined Racing Honda Civic Type-R. The Samlin Racing Volkswagen Polo of Keegan Campos failed to set a time after their car suffered a cracked piston and was taken away to fit a new engine. Adding to the team’s woes, Jason Campos had to fly in to substitute for an unwell Nathan Hammond who was entered as the team’s second driver.
Harm and Barend Pretorius, the reigning V8 Roadster and Index of Performance National Champions took pole position in Class D, followed by Gavin Rooke and Richard van Heerde in their Dutchman Browndeck Backdraft Roadster from the factory-entered Backdraft of American racer Dan Hirsch and Fabienne Lanz.
Race:
White took an immediate lead when the lights went out and made a strategic decision to pit under the first safety car on lap 30 where Letlaka emerged in sixth place with the Nova moving into first position overall on lap 34 which the team held until lap 161 when the race was suspended for half an hour following a massive accident.
Thomas had overtaken five cars under an earlier safety car period and was penalized with two drive-through penalties which dropped the trio to third overall. With 75 minutes to go, Visser ran into the back of White as the Lamborghini driver avoided contact with the Di Matteo Racing Mustang.
The Huracan was unscathed barring minor cosmetic body damage, but the Nova suffered a broken front end and made a lengthy stop to fit new bodywork and lights. Although Visser ran the rest of the race at near qualifying pace, the deficit was too big and the RBR team had to settle for the final step of the podium.
Arangies and Neveling split the race in two, each driver running straight 2½ hour stints. Arangies had a spin towards the end of his stint having found oil on the circuit but just managed to keep his Porsche out of the wall at turn seven. Neveling also had a spin with 20 minutes remaining on the clock, which brought the Nova to within 22 seconds of second place.
With the race long three-way fight for the lead between the Into Africa, Rico Barlow Racing and Stradale teams raging at the front with positions changing over the opening hours as pitstop strategies played out, Mike McLaughlin and Steve Clark held a watching brief in fourth position in their Backdraft Carbon machine while fighting with the Scribante Lamborghini in fifth position.
Having dropped to fifth during a routine pitstop, disaster struck at 18h50 when Clark was making a play to regain fourth place. With a strong run on Stephen going into the sweep, Clark took the inside line while trying to pass the Lamborghini, who held his line through the corner apex, and dropped two wheels onto the grass. In an instant, the Backdraft spun, hitting the tyre wall and scattering the circuit with broken bodywork and momentarily catching fire as the car came to a stop.
A trio of Backdrafts headed by Endurance newcomer Peter Blofield, Andre Bettencourt and Mark Harvey arrived through the fast sweep and were confronted with the Carbon’s bonnet lying in the middle of the road. Blofield braked hard, almost coming to a stop while Bettencourt also braked and tried to avoid the near stationary car. Harvey, who was lining up an overtaking move, slammed into Bettencourt’s Backdraft at racing speed, got airborne and landed in the tyre wall. No one was injured in the accident, but the race was suspended for nearly half an hour as the circuit was cleared.
Once racing resumed, Michael Stephen was in fourth position; the local team made two unscheduled pitstops thinking they had a puncture as the car’s handling was ‘snappy’; the drivers were lacking confidence in their car’s handling and were a second a lap slower than their usual pace.
Franco di Matteo, in the Ford Mustang IRC, made an impressive local debut with teammates Julian Familiaris and Romano Sartori. The only issue for the Pony car was an unscheduled pit stop with half an hour to go to fix the rear lights caused by a loose electrical connection.
Van Heerde and Rooke had a perfect drive to sixth overall and claimed the Class D and Index of Performance honours.
The Pretorius’ Pesty Racing Backdraft suffered a puncture in the first hour while leading; the extra pitstop ultimately cost the team the class win. Fikile Holomisa, Setshaba Mashigo and Xolela Njumbuxa put their torrid season behind them to take a well-deserved Class D podium in their Team Qhubani Backdraft.
It was a hard-fought podium as the car was stuck in fifth gear after two hours and had to be held in place under braking as the lever jumped out of gear. Holomisa had two off-track excursions as well, making their result all the more rewarding.
Blofield and co-driver Denver Branders claimed ninth overall ahead of Dan Hirsch and Fabienne Lanz’s factory Roadster. They suffered a broken anti-roll bar and had a small issue when the car refused to fire up after a driver change.
The Campos brothers claimed 11th overall and won Class C after a tough event, which saw the Samlin Polo muscled off the track by the Scribante Lambo. The Polo made contact with the tyre wall which damaged the left front fender, but the damage was repaired in a 19-minute pitstop.
Jan van der Merwe and Mario da Silva brought their Backdraft Roadster home in 12th, followed by the G-Rasteirinho Backdraft which was able to continue after the big accident. Earlier in the day, Bettencourt tangled with the Rossi Alfa which damaged the left-front corner and front splitter, which necessitated extensive and lengthy repairs.
The Alfa quartet was 14th followed by Combined Racing Honda which suffered a litany of issues, including a blown head gasket which led to water in all the cylinder sleeves as well as the loss of 4th gear from lap two. They received a drive through penalty, bled the car’s clutch and pitted when the engine temperature went off the gauge as a result of a loose water pipe.
The two Mozambican teams, Sphere Motorsport and Korridas Racing both retired. The Sphere Toyota Altezza had terminal oil pump issues while the Korridas Golf turbo suffered a blown engine. The never-say-die team replaced a blown motor which occurred during free practice and worked through the night until the pitlane opened for the main race. They completed 137 laps before their retirement.
1-Hour Dash:
Damian Hammond powered his Liqui Moly Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo to a comfortable victory in the 1-Hour Dash which ran over the opening sixty minutes of the five-hour race.
Aldo Scribante came home in second in his Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. Marius Jackson, in his first race of the year, ended on the final step of the podium in his MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, a lucky result as the Audi’s tank ran dry on the last lap and the reserve tank had just enough fuel to limp home.
Andrew Horne brought his Ligier-Honda JS49 home in fourth, 2.4 seconds up on Antonie Marx’s Shelby CanAm with Roy Obery (Porsche 991.2MR), Mo Mia (Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup) and Sun Moodley (Porsche GT3 Cup) rounding out the finishers.
