Kwanda Mokena – a new racing star is born
Endurance racing is, for many, much more demanding than standard track racing in that it features more than one driver per vehicle and often varied weather conditions, and this can create havoc within racing strategies.
Killarney Raceway down in Cape Town entertained not just music fans over the past weekend, but also 44 highly capable championship hungry race drivers. The event was a 9-hour endurance race.
Kwanda Mokena, an up-and-coming youngster, became the youngest ever SA Endurance Champion at the Killarney 9-Hour.
The 18-year-old Mokoena, partnered with another young SA hotshot, Andrew Rackstraw, and Audi factory driver, Luca Engstler, to dominate proceedings after claiming pole position in their MJR Motorsport/Amandla Coal Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2.
The team lead from the start, finishing three laps clear of title rival, Tschops Sipuka, partnered with Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White, in their Into Africa Mining Lamborghini Huracan GT3 who duly finished second overall.
The third championship contender, Hein Lategan, ended third in his Black Bull Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with co-drivers, Henk Lategan and Verissimo Tavares.
Danie van Niekerk and Roberto/David Franco (Graphix Supply World Volkswagen Polo SupaCup) claimed a surprising class D win and sixth overall.
The heartbreak story of the Killarney 9-Hour befell Karah Hill, Michael Stephen and Jurie Swart’s Kalex VW Polo. The trio were in a comfortable class lead and fifth overall for eight hours and 53 minutes when the left-front wheel bearing failed with seven minutes of the race remaining!
The factory Volkswagen Polo GTi SupaCup of Daniel Rowe and Keagan Masters claimed second in Class D.
In a David vs Goliath fight, the Gazoo Racing Toyota Yaris GR media car of Ashley Oldfield, Mark Jones, Thomas Falkiner and Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger won the Index of Performance, followed by the sister Yaris GR of Toyota executives Leon Theron, Anand Pather, Mario de Sousa and journalist Sean Nurse. The cars ran faultlessly, only requiring a change of brake pads just before 19:00, and duly claimed eighth and 11th overall.
The class E win went to the Backdraft-Lexus of Mark Owens, Trevor Graham and Richard van Heerde.
Another hard luck story belonged to the Team Retro Mates Backdraft of Meredith Willis, Michael Gaines, Manfred Schroder and Reg Sutton who was leading Class E when a left front wheel worked loose in the fast turn four. The car was towed back to the pits and repaired, and ended 14th.
Franco di Matteo, Julian Familiaris and Warren Lombard had an eventful weekend. Their Mobil 1 Mustang V8 suffered engine failure in practice and the team packed up before deciding, just 15 minutes before the start of the race, to rent a spare Backdraft. With no practice, no overalls or helmets, the trio borrowed or bought what they needed. There was only time to add fuel, and starting last, they raced to 16th overall and seventh in class E.
The final classified runners were the 4 Brits and a Bok of Craig Rapp, Robi Bernberg and Charles Ugo endured a weekend from hell. Ugo crashed at turn three which broke a gearbox and propshaft mounting which was repaired in 45 minutes. The team worked its way through four differentials, a gearbox, an engine and gearbox mounting on top of having to rebuild the engine a week before the race.
2023 pre-season testing takes place in February with the opening round of the new season scheduled for March.
Source: MotorPress
