The third round of the SA Endurance Championship connected by Vodacom 4U delivered a nail-biting finish in an electrifying battle packed with drama from the very first lap until the final seconds of the race.
In a rain-affected race that saw a halt to proceedings for 40 minutes when the Cape Town conditions were at their worst that caused the Di Matteo Racing Ford Mustang IRC to destroy the tyre wall on the exit of the Sarel Van Der Merwe Sweep, Into Africa Racing’s trio of Xolile Letlaka, Stuart White and Axcil Jeffries sailed to one of the closest SA Endurance Championship finishes on record.
White, in the team’s brand-new Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 started from the second slot on the grid having been pipped to pole position by the Stradale Motorsport Audi R8 GT3 Evo entry of Charl Arangies, Arnold Neveling and Brad Liebenberg by 0.33 seconds.
Incredibly, as the race got underway at 2pm in soaking wet conditions, both front row starters, vying for the lead, spun on the opening lap which dropped the Into Africa car down to fifth after the crack squad accidentally bolted intermediate instead of full wet tyres onto their car while Arangies aquaplaned at the same spot, dropping into the mid-pack.
The Adjust for Sleep/Rico Barlow Racing Nova Proto NP2 which had entered a four driver lineup of Nick Adcock, Michael Stephen, Louis Maurice (France) and Jonathan Thomas, emerged from the dense spray in the lead while the two GT3 machines carefully picked their way through the slower traffic as they made their way back to the head of the pack, although Arangies had another spin at the same spot as his first pirouette 90 minutes into his opening stint.
With the three-way fight raging at the front of the field, the lead changed numerous times depending on pitstop strategies and safety car interventions, of which there were eight in all, as the conditions challenged the drivers.
The weather cleared for around 2½ hours although the circuit remained damp for the most part. As early darkness descended over Killarney, the rain returned, leading to anxiety up and down the pit lane.
One of the casualties of the latest rain shower was the Ricky and Gianni Giannoccaro and Ant Blunden G&H Transport Audi R8, who were running in fifth overall and enjoyed a handsome Class B lead when they were knocked off the track by a Backdraft car. The Audi started to overheat with apparent radiator damage and with 30 minutes remaining, the team was forced to retire.
With half an hour to go, Jeffries pitted from the lead due to a puncture, and the Into Africa car dropped to third with the Nova leading followed by the Stradale Audi in second.
In an edge-of-the seat final stint and with 22 seconds to covering the top three, Jeffries dug deep, running six seconds a lap faster than the leaders.
A final safety car came out with 15 minutes remaining; with the clock ticking down and the top three covered by 2.7 seconds, the safety car was withdrawn and Jeffries immediately pounced on the Audi, snatching second and set off after the leading RBR Nova. Lap by lap, he closed until with two minutes remaining, the gap was down to 1.4 seconds and closing fast.
With 20 seconds remaining until the end of the race, Jeffries passed the Nova for the lead but still had to finish the lap he had just started.
Pandemonium erupted in the Into Africa pit as Jeffries took the chequered flag after six hours of racing in extreme conditions, while the Rico Barlow team looked on in disbelief as their flawless strategy, which saw them lead for much of the race, running the entire race on a single set of tyres is believed to be their final undoing as Thomas was struggling for grip in the final laps forcing the team to settle for second place.
Team owner Xolile Letlaka said “That was the longest half an hour of my life,” while Jeffries and White acknowledged the team’s effort in overcoming their numerous setbacks during the race.
The Stradale Audi suffered another mishap en route to their podium when Liebenberg, leading at the time, went into the tyre wall at Turn Two as he was overtaking a slower car. While damage was limited, the time loss dropped the team back down to third.
Behind the leading trio, the father-and-son team of Albert and Oliver Hintenaus brought their Coastal Engineering Supplies Ligier P4 home in fourth place overall despite numerous spins as they came to grips with their new machine. “The car was covered in so much mud that at one point the team couldn’t open the fuel filler because of the mud,” Hintenaus senior quipped.
Finishing fifth overall was the factory Backdraft Roadster of Steve Clark and Mike McLaughlin. Their Carbon machine was still undergoing repairs after their huge crash at Aldo Scribante in April, so the team entered a standard Backdraft Roadster in the top A class to keep their championship hopes alive, added to the mix was the team using them to test full wet tyres with a view of introducing them in the place of the semi slicks for next season. It was a trouble-free event for the KwaZulu Natal pair who described driving their open roadster as some of the worst conditions they had ever raced in.
Harm and Barend Pretorius brought their Team Pesty Racing Backdraft Roadster home in sixth overall and took the Class D honours after working their way back up the order after Pretorius senior admitted to being too cautious in the wet part of the race, albeit it a strategy that paid off in the end.
Gavin Rooke and Richard van Heerde brought their Dutchman Browndeck Backdraft home in seventh position after leading the V8 Roadster National Championship class with an hour to go, but a late rain shower slowed the pair over the final stint. Their steady progress over the six hours saw them bag second place in the Index of Performance championship despite five spins for Van Heerde alone.
With their third in class D and eighth overall, Denver Branders, Robert Maudant and Mark Futcher took home the coveted Index of Performance trophy in their Bluff Meat Supply Backdraft Roadster as well as earning their place on the final step of the class podium.
Ninth overall after a remarkable run on semi-slick tyres throughout the race, the Combined Racing Honda Civic Type-R of brothers Paulo and Ricardo Loureiro took the class C honours, finishing a lap ahead of the G-Rasteirinho Racing Backdraft Roadster of Andre Bettencourt, Pedro Garcia, Remi Guigue and Cristian Bouche. It was a strong performance after Bettencourt crashed their original race car in Saturday morning’s early warm-up session, forcing the team into the spare Backdraft Racing’s machine.
A brilliant maiden Class B win, and 11th overall was just reward for the Sphere Motorsport squad of Sergio Alvares, Pieter van Heerden and Marco da Cunha who enjoyed a trouble-free run in their Toyota Altezza who, like virtually everyone in the field, endured a few spins in the diabolical conditions.
Mario da Silva and Fabienne Lanz brought their Backdraft Roadster home in 12th overall, comfortably ahead of Dan Hirsch and Stuart Kidgell’s similar machine. The factory Backdraft enjoyed a comfortable class lead when they were hit by a fellow competitor on the left rear side, which broke the car’s driveshaft.
Once the car was recovered back to the pits, the Backdraft mechanics replaced the shaft in 28 minutes, and the car was back in the running. Hirsch had a late spin 15 minutes before the chequered flag fell and beached the car which brought out the final safety car period, which altered the overall outcome of the race…
The Scuderia Rossi Alfa Romeo Guilia QV of Mario Rossi, Werner Vonk and Regard van Zyl was running well and leading Class B when, just after the two-hour mark, the car suffered a broken differential bracket which took 50 minutes to repair. They soldiered on and salvaged second in the class.
14th overall and second in Class C was the father-and-son duo of Roberto and David Franco in their Graphix Supply World Volkswagen Polo GTi. Both family members independently ran off the road at turn two, with Roberto locking up and skating straight into the tyres, just as Liebenberg was overtaking him around the outside, the incident ushering the Stradale Audi into the tyres as well.
The final classified runner was the Team Qhubani Backdraft of Fikile Holomisa and Xolela Njumbuxa who suffered a failed clutch. The car was repaired but too much time was lost to challenge for a class podium.
The Di Matteo Racing Ford Mustang IRC of Julian Familiaris, Franco di Matteo and Romano Sartori retired after crashing out in the worst of the conditions; the Mustang suffered broken left rear suspension in the incident which led to the race suspension two hours after the start.
The Mozambican Korridas team retired their Volkswagen Golf GTi turbo after completing ninety-seven laps.
1-Hour Dash
Facing the same monsoon conditions as the SAE field, Andrew Horne emerged at the start of lap two in third position overall in his Xena Chemicals Ligier-Honda JS49 after the leading two GT3 cars spun out.
Horne later hit the back of the Hintenaus Ligier and damaged the front left corner of his car which also put his wheel alignment out of kilter.
Damian Hammond (Liqui Moly Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo 2) took the lead and held off the hard-charging Horne by 0.7 seconds after an hour of treacherous racing.
Wayne Roach took third in his Samlin Racing Lamborghini Super Trofeo ahead of Marius Jackson who debuted his new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 992. Jackson had a terrific scrap with Mo Mia in his Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup car while fending off Byron Mitchell in his Old Boys racing Ligier JS53 Evo.
Antonie Marx had a torrid race, spinning on the opening lap, and twice stopping on circuit, which brought out two separate safety cars for the stricken Shelby CanAm to be retrieved.
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.
