WINNER. Rick Loureiro (Combined BMW 335i) takes Saturday’s opening Bridgestone BMW Car Club race at Zwartkops. Picture: RacePics
Cold, wet and blustery weather did not deter an enthusiastic crowd at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria on Saturday, when the venue hosted the penultimate round of this year’s Inland Championship.
Fans who braved the wretched conditions were treated to close on a full day of varied and spectacular motorsport before rain brought play to halt in the late afternoon.
Top billing belonged to the Bridgestone BMW Car Club brigade, with the opening race won by Rick Loureiro (Combined BMW 335i), ahead of Andreas Meier (BMW E36), Paulo Loureiro (Tune Tech BMW E36), Oz Biagioni (Bio Pools BMW M3), JB Breedt (Triplicon BMW M3) and Jan Evertsteyn (Bavaria BMW E36 Turbo).
Lorenzo Gualtieri (Papa Marios BMW E36) won race two, followed by Meier, Paulo Loureiro, Willie Erasmus (Big Boss BMW E36), Rick Loureiro and JB Breedt.
Jonathan du Toit took his TAR Honda Civic to both the autObarn SuperHatch victories, leading home Brett Garland (autObarn Honda Civic) and Tyler Scott (Jestik Opel Kadett).
The first Bridgestone Challenge heat went to Michael Dixon (Westside Honda CBR), ahead of Naasief Wadhalla (Fastbike Kawasaki ZX6) and Francois de Villiers (RSA Suzuki GSXR).
Christopher Kretzen (Buissinne Kawasaki ZX10R) won the next time, followed by Nigel Brandt (Kawasaki ZX10R) and Wadwalla.
Deon van Vuuren (Supa-Quick Mazda R100) took the first Midvaal Historic car race from Ken Price (SV Tech Datsun Coupe) and Travis Jensen (Jensen Towing Datsun 1200 GX).
Van Vuuren won the next race as well, this time followed by Mario Rossi (FAS Alfa GTV6) and Rene van Rensburg (SV Tech Ford Escort).
The day’s quickest lap time was set during the opening National Sports Car race, when Simon Murray blasted his Ginetta G67 around in 58.482sec.
He won the race from Ian Smith (Shelby CanAm) and Michael Jensen (Shelby). Murray won the next time as well, leading home Jensen and Smith.
The Motul Modified Production Car race went to the incredibly rapid EV Dynamics Honda Civic Turbo of Keagan Pottas, followed by Louis Cloete (SV Tech VW Beetle) and Paul van Niekerk (EV Dynamics VW Golf).
Gerald Geldenhuys (Abacus Formula Ford) won both the Formula Monoposto races, with Zac Edwards (Mygale F1600) and Mac Odendaal (FGti DAW) swapping the respective second and third places.
Keagan Pottas took his Honda to the Silver Cup victory, followed by Paul van Niekerk (EV Dynamics Golf) and Evert Seyff ert (Cable Solutions VW Golf).
Willie Erasmus (Big Boss Legend) won the first INEX Legends race from Justin Robertson (Liqui Moly Legend) and Richard Upton (Ziegler Legend).
Jason Loosemoore (Security Fencing Legend) won race two, ahead of Erasmus and Robertson.
The final round of the 2018 Inland Series will be held at the Zwartkops circuit on Saturday, November 3.
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