Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and 17-year-old Ryan Naicker got their SA Endurance National Championship challenge off to a perfect start by winning the Samlin Racing Four Hours of Zwartkops on Saturday.
It was an emphatic victory for the Rico Barlow Racing/Adjust for Sleep Nova trio after a thrilling fight with the Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White until a racing incident at the midway point of the race relegated the reigning SA Endurance Champions to second place overall.
The fairytale story of the weekend came from the factory Backdraft duo of Steve Clark and Mike McLaughlin who claimed the final step of the podium in their Roadster after their Slingshot was withdrawn with terminal mechanical problems before qualifying.
Backdraft’s bold decision to enter the spare Class D Roadster in Class A was rewarded with a strong points haul at the start of the season.
Qualifying:
The RBR/Adjust for Sleep Nova took pole position with a combined driver time of 58.74 seconds while the Into Africa squad failed to qualify despite White setting a 58.605 second lap in his session.
Letlaka didn’t set a qualifying time after encountering ABS brake issues.
Charl Arangies, debuting his Porsche 911 GT3R in the 1-Hour Dash lined up second from Damian Hammond’s Liqui Moly Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 which was also a 1-Hour Dash contender.
Shayur Harpal put his Stradale Motorsport Gallardo in fourth spot on the grid followed by the G&H Transport McLaren MP4-12C of Gianni and Ricky Giannoccaro and Ant Blunden, the McLaren replacing their Audi R8 GT4 which developed engine issues in Friday’s free practice sessions.
Samlin Racing’s Nathan Hammond set the fastest Class B time in his Trinity Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 with David Franco setting the class C pole in his Graphix Supply World VW Polo GTi.
The reigning V8 Roadster and Index of Performance champions, Barend and Harm Pretorius took the class D pole from the similar Backdraft Roadster of Gavin Rooke/Richard van Heerde.
Other teams who failed to qualify and would start the race from the pitlane included the Scuderia Rossi Alfa Romeo Giulia QV with differential problems, the Jacquet Racing Chev Camaro Trans Am with gearbox problems, the Sphere Motorsport Toyota Altezza with a water leak and Korridas Racing’s VW Golf which suffered a broken gear linkage.
Race:
When the lights turned green, Adcock stormed into the lead, hounded by Arangies’ Porsche; the leading cars were soon lapping the back markers which saw the gaps ebb and flow. White, taking the first stint in the Into Africa Huracan, scythed through the field and was on the tail end of the class A cars after 20 minutes into the race, and after forty minutes had passed, he was on the tail of the second-placed Porsche.
As White tried to stick the Huracan’s nose up the inside of the Porsche, Arangies slammed the door shut but one lap later, the Porsche suffered a burst water pipe, which caused Arangies to spin out at turn five on his own water.
With White now up into second place, an hour and forty minutes into the race, a safety car came out to retrieve Fikile Holomisa’s stricken Team Qhubani Backdraft.
The Nova team pitted for Michael Jensen to take the wheel, but he detected a problem with the car not firing on all cylinders on his first lap and pitted to investigate. It turned out to be the traction control knob that had been accidentally adjusted while getting into the car, but the extra pitstop cost the Nova their lead and Jensen rejoined a lap down.
The chase was on!
Letlaka steadily built a gap at the front of the field until an hour later at 16h40, White and Wayne Roach in the Class B Samlin Lamborghini came together in a racing incident. The Into Africa Huracan suffered a broken right-rear tie rod which took around 12 minutes to repair while the Samlin car was forced to retire with a broken wheel hub.
Despite White taking the final stint and running at qualifying pace over the final 45 minutes, it made no difference to the final outcome of the race. For the RBR Nova, the victory was secure and Naicker, faced with a clear track, set the fastest lap heading for an ultimately dominant 10-lap victory.
Although disappointed, White and Letlaka were happy to leave the Pretoria track with just a five-point deficit in the championship standings.
Third overall, Steve Clark and Mike McLaughlin had a sensational race in the ‘spare’ Backdraft Roadster. The car was being race-readied at 9am on race day and with a sound strategic plan, they made a strong start to the year, given that they almost walked away empty handed after the factory Slingshot was withdrawn.
Clark and McLoughlin also won the Index of Performance to take the early lead in the IoP National Championship standings.
The Italian/British duo of Gianni Gabbiani and Mark Owens brought their #Labocosmetica Backdraft home in fourth overall and second in the Index of Performance after losing their podium place after requiring a late race splash and dash fuel top up.
Harm and Barend Pretorius brought their Team Pesty Backdraft home in fifth position overall after making an unscheduled pitstop to investigate a fuel pump issue. Team Manager Francois Pretorius calculated the extra time in the pits cost them a podium placing and the class D win.
Sixth overall was the Mozambican-based G-Rasteirinho Racing Backdraft of Remi Guigue, Andre Bettencourt and Pedro Garcia after a steady run having qualified in 21st place.
The factory #42 Backdraft of Dan Hirsch, Fabienne Lanz and Luschen Ramchander, the latter a last-minute addition to the team, ended seventh overall after losing four laps in a tardy pitstop caused by another competitor blocking their fuel rig in an otherwise solid race.
Car 23 Racing, the Swiss Hotel School/Adapt Design and Sign Backdraft raced by Mark Harvey, Phillip Meyer and Dean Wolson had a strong run until Meyer tried to overtake Gavin Rook’s Backdraft and went offline and spun out, got stranded in the gravel trap and lost three laps while being recovered, dropping to eighth overall.
Scuderia Rossi took ninth overall and the Class C win in the only endurance specification Alfa Giulia in the world. After repairing the differential and starting from the pit lane, the car suffered further diff issues during the race, forcing the drivers to nurse the car to the finish line.
Rounding out the top ten was the Backdraft entry of 19-year-old Jordan and Father Jonathan Edwards and Barry Glanz. The Zwartkops event was the trio’s first ever endurance race and they were delighted with their result after Glanz spun and the car refused to start as a result of heat soak. The Roadster eventually fired up and made it back to the pits, but four laps were lost in the process.
Mario da Silva and Denver Branders ended 11th in their Backdraft Roadster followed in 12th by the Dutchman Browndeck Backdraft of Richard van Heerde and Gavin Rooke after losing 22 minutes fixing a faulty fuel pump.
The Roberto and David Franco Graphix Supply World Polo GTi suffered a litany of issues including a gearbox problem which left the drivers battling to select second and third gears, as well as a power issue caused by a leaking turbo breather pipe. Their first pitstop came as early as lap 10 and they ultimately lost over 65 minutes in the pits.
The final classified runner and the Class B winner was the Sphere Motorsport Toyota Altezza after numerous stops due to overheating issues. The car suffered a voltage drop which caused the car to run lean. With an hour to go, the clutch failed, and the trio of drivers finished the race using only fourth gear.
Team Qhubani retired with a broken clutch after completing 98 laps while the Chev Camaro Trans Am retired after several lengthy pitstops to try and cure a misfire; unable to trace the root cause, the Cape-based team called it a day after climbing to seventh from their pit lane start.
The Giannoccarros retired their G&H McLaren with a failed gearbox and the Korridas Racing Golf finally called it a day after countless pit stops to attend to the recurring gear linkage issue, they experienced the previous day.
1-Hour Dash
After an eight-year absence from racing, young Shayur Harpal powered his Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 to a narrow 0.228 second win over Andrew Horne’s Xena Chemicals Ligier-Honda JS49 in an exciting race that saw fortunes and leading gaps fluctuate as the cars navigated the crowded circuit.
The regular V8 racer Antoine Marx, making his Dash debut in a Shelby CanAm-Nissan, was delighted with third overall. Mike Verrier, the current 1-Hour Dash champion, brought his Shelby CanAm home in fourth after a hard-fought race with Marx, conceding 5.3 seconds as Verrier was hampered lapping slower cars.
Sun Moodley had a lonely race, bringing his Bigfoot Express Porsche GT3 Cup car home in fifth ahead of Backdraft Racing’s Mike McLaughlin in the factory-entered Roadster.
Roy Obery (Porsche 991.2 MR), Charl Arangies and Damien Hammond (LiquiMoly Gallardo) were not classified.
The next round of the SA Endurance National Championship is the Five Hours of Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha on 5 April.
