Heading up the Samlin Racing Four Hours of Zwartkops field will be championship defenders Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White with their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. Photograph: Dave Ledbitter.
The South African Endurance National Championship will start its 2025 season at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria this weekend.
The occasion will be the Samlin Racing Four Hours of Zwartkops, with 33 cars to face the starter.
Heading up the field will be championship defenders Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White with their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, with their toughest opposition being the Adjust for Sleep Nova Proto NP02 driven by Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Ryan Naicker, and the Backdraft Slingshot of Mike McLaughlin and Steve Clark.
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Two exciting new entries will include the brand-new Innovation Cars Ford Mustang driven by Julian Familiaris and Franco di Matteo, and the Chevrolet Camaro Trans-Am of Fabio Tafani and Sean Moore.
Rounding out the open class will be the G&H Transport Audi R8 of Gianni/Ricky Giannoccaro and Ant Blunden.
Class B for Production GT3 and GT4 cars should provide a fight between the Sphere Toyota Altezza of Mozambican Sergio Alvares, South Africans Pieter van Heerden and Marco da Cunha, and Damian/Sam Hammond in their Samlin Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo.
Class C is for production cars with an engine capacity of up to 3.2-litres. It boasts a five car entry headed by the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV of Mario and Claudio Rossi.
They will square up against the Combined Racing Honda Type R of Paulo and Ricardo Loureiro.
There will be a pair of Volkswagen SupaPolos for Samlin Racing’s Nathan Hammond/ Keegan Campos, plus the Graphix Supply World version of father and son Franco and David Roberto.
Rounding out the class will be the Korridas Volkswagen Golf GTi driven by Bruno Campos and Marcos Rodrigues, regular visitors from Mozambique.
The V8 Roadster National Championship is the domain of rumbling Backdraft Roadsters, with nine of them on the grid.
Defending champions Harm/Barend Pretorius (Team Pesty) will be challenged by Fikile Holomisa/ Setshaba Mashigo (Team Qhubani), and the Italian/British duo of Gianni Gabbiani and Mark Owens.
Also in the fight will be the Swiss Hotel School entry of Phillip Meyer, Mark Harvey and Dean Wolson, the Dutchman Browndeck of Gavin Rooke/Richard van Heerde, plus the Backdraft of Dan Hirsch and lady racer Fabienne Lanz.
Rounding out the class will be the cars of Mario da Silva/Denver Branders, Frenchman Remi Guigue, Mozambican Andre Bettencourt and Portuguese racer Pedro Garcia, plus Jordan/Jonathan Edwards/Barry Glanz.
The 1-Hour Dash will run for the first hour of the Endurance series and last year’s champion, Mike Verrier, will top the field with his Shelby Can-Am.
His challengers will include Andrew Horne (Xena Chemicals Ligier Honda JS49) and Antonie Marx in another Shelby Can-Am.
Mike McLoughlin has entered his Backdraft Slingshot in the 1-Hour Dash as has Dan Hirsch in his Backdraft Roadster.
Others to watch must include Shayur Harpal (Stradale Lamborghini Gallardo GT3), Damian Hammond (Samlin Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo), Charl Arangies (Stradale Porsche 911 GT3 R), Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), Mo Mia (Toys ‘R Us Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Roy Obery (GWM Edenvale Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
Track action will get underway on Friday (21 February) with three one-hour free practice sessions followed by qualifying at 16h20.
The weekend’s supporting programme will offer spectacle on both four and two wheels.
The just-formed Porsche 911 Cup South Africa class will head up the bill, with 16 cars to tackle two sprint races and a 45 minute race over the weekend.
Charl Arangies will debut his new 992.2 Stradale GT3 R supported by the Stradale 997 GT3 Cup of Jay Jay Deysel and the 992 GT3 Cup of Ryan Naicker.
Mike McLoughlin will run a 996 GT3 Cup, taking on Andre’ Brink (997 GT3 Cup), Willie de Beer (997 GT3 Cup), Deven Pillay (997 GT3 Cup) and Nicky Dicks (Curvent 996 GT3 Cup).
Others to watch must include Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express 996 Cup), Mo Mia (Toys’ R Us 991.2 GT3 Cup), Roy Obery (991.2), Andrew Honeywill (911 Carrera Cup), Jimmy Giannoccaro (G&H Transport 997) and Philip Smit’s 997 GT3 Cup.
Qualifying takes place on Friday at 15h20 with the first race scheduled for 17h35. Saturday sees the Porsche brigade on track at 10h00 and 11h40 for their second and third races.
The Sports and GT race has 12 entries, led by Andrew Horne’s Xena Chemicals Ligier Honda JS 49.
Challenging him will be the Shelby Can-Ams of Mike Verrier and Antonie Marx, the Backdraft Slingshot of Mike McLaughlin and the Backdraft Roadster of Dan Hirsch.
Charl Arangies has entered his all new Porsche 911 GT3 R, to take on a people like Shayur Harpal (Stradale Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) and Damien Hammond (Samlin Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo GT3).
Others near the front end should be Gianni Giannoccaro (G&H Transport McLaren MP4-12C GT3), Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Roy Obery (GWM Edenvale Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Uli Sanne (G&H Transport BMW Z4 M).
The MRSSA Motorcycle brigade will bring 46 riders, split into three classes.
Current SBK 1000 champion, Adolf Boshoff, will head a 24 strong big-engine class aboard his Honda CBR, challenged by the likes of Themba Khumalo (Ducati Panigale V4R), Damion Purificati (BMW S 1000), Luca Bertolini (Yamaha R1) and Nicole Purificati (Yamaha YZF-R1).
In the 600 cc class, defending champion, Diego de Ponte (Yamaha R6), will be taking on riders like Troy Tonking (Yamaha R5), Taigh Janse van Rensburg (Yamaha R5), Ryan van Nieuwkerk (R6), Ora Phiri (R6) and Mitch Mortimer (R6).
In the V4 and BOTTS class, champion Leon Horn will defend his title from Alan Hulscher and Mick Landi, all three aboard Ducati’s Panigale V4R models.
Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda are all represented in the Classics class with top riders Kevin and Dean Kemp aboard Suzuki GSXRs, Etienne Louw (Kawasaki) and Fergal McAdam on a lone Honda VTR 1000.
The Open Superbike class should see Moe Essop (BMW S 1000 RR) and Siya Tshabalala (Yamaha YZF-R1) fighting for victory, chased by Nkululeko Majola (Yamaha YZF-R1), Malcolm Govender (BMW) and Simphiwe Mahlolo (Yamaha YZF-R6).
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