High thrills, expensive spills dominate Historic season opener

Motorsport nostalgia returned to the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria this past Saturday, when the venue hosted the opening round of the 2023 Historic Tour.

Saloons and GTs

Top billing belonged to the Marlboro Crane Hire Pre-1966 Legend Cars, with Ben Morgenrood (Morgenrood Group Ford Mustang) winning the opening race from Jaco Krynauw (Datsun 240Z), Seef Fourie Jr (Mercury Cougar), Mark du Toit (Ford Mustang) and Paige Lindenberg (Ford Fairlane).

Fourie led race two from starting lights to chequered flag, setting the category’s quickest lap time of the day in the massive, bellowing Mercury.

He was chased to the finish line by du Toit, Krynauw, Jonathan Needham (Ford Cortina) and Marc Miller (Alfa Romeo Giulia GT).

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Mark du Toit (Lola T70 Spyder) won the first race for Marlboro Crane Hire Pre 1968 Le Mans cars, narrowly ahead of Larry Wilford (Lola T70), Peter Bailey (Porsche 917) and Andre van der Merwe (Porsche 911 RSR).

Wilford reversed the order in race two, winning from Du Toit, Bailey and James Temple (Shelby Daytona).

The first Morgenrood HRSA race went to the Chevrolet Firenza Can-Am of Rudolf de Vos, leading home Andre van der Merwe (Porsche 911 RSR), Richard Pott (Porsche 911 RSR) and Matthew Gudmanz (Chevrolet Firenza Can-Am).

Crunch!

Race two was red-flagged after a four-car accident caused by the Gudmanz Can-Am spinning on its own water that got onto the tyres because of a burst water hose.

The spinning Chevrolet was then collected solidly by the Ford Escort of Martin Botha, who in turn got rear-ended by the Volkswagen Scirocco of Jannie Rooyen and then seconds later, Pott’s 911.

Fortunately, all three drivers emerged uninjured, although the opposite applies to their cars and probably, also their pockets.

After the restart, de Vos won again, ahead of Rene Janse van Rensburg (Ford Escort), Reg Sutton (Ford Escort) and Gavin Lundin (Datsun 1200).

Jagger Robertson (BMW 328i) took both the On Track Clubmans victories from Lenard Archer (Honda Civic), Dirk Lawrence (Honda Ballade) and Adrian Dalton (Volkswagen Golf).

Rob van Aarle (Ford Escort) scored the opening Ben Morgenrood HRSA Pursuit race, finishing in front of Werner Hartzenberg (Porsche 916), Hilton Ewart (Alfetta) and Wynand du Plessis Sr (Porsche 944 S2).

Race two went the way of Robbie Frank (Lotus 23B), leading home Hartzenberg, Riaan Roux (Volkswagen Scirocco) and du Plessis Sr.

Single seaters

The first Monoposto race went to Renzo Robeiro (Swift), leading home Bevan Williams (Swift), Didier Diedericks (Formula M) and JM Gerber (Formula M). Race two also went to Robeiro and Williams, this time with Gerber third and Herman Krige (Formula M) fourth.

Matt Nash (Van Diemen) took both the Historic Single Seater races ahead of Andrew Horne (Royale), with Patrick Dunseith (Merlyn FF) and Paul Richardson (Dulon) in the next two places the first time out. In race two, the third and fourth places went to Ben van der Westhuizen (Royale) and Dunseith.

Next Zwartkops race

The next event at the Zwartkops Raceway will be a round of this year’s National Extreme Festival on Saturday, 20 May. For more information, visit the website, www.zwartkops.co.za.