Action aplenty as Inland Historic Tour thrills Zwartkops

Spectacular nostalgia was the name of the game at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria on Saturday, when the venue hosted round four of the 2023 Inland Historic Championship.

Mild weather and a good programme saw a respectably sized crowd turn up, and their expectations were met.

Sports cars

Heading up the show were two races for Pre-1974 International Sports and GT cars.

Jonathan du Toit (Chevron B9) won the opening heat from Larry Wilford (Lola T70), Lee Thompson (Daytona Coupe), Ben Morgenrood (Ford Mustang) and James Temple (Daytona Coupe).

ALSO READ: Inland Historic Tour revving to revive past at Zwartkops

Pre-event favourite Hennie Groenewald (Chevrolet Camaro) dropped out when the big V8 engine’s carburetor came loose.

Wilford won race two, leading home du Toit, Thompson, Temple and Warren Lombard (AC Cobra), with Groenewald’s Camaro again expiring.

Saloon cars

In the first Marlboro Crane Hire Pre-66 Legend Saloon Car event of the day, Morgenrood (Ford Mustang) took the race ahead of Thompson (Chevrolet Camaro), du Toit (Chevrolet Nova) and Groenewald (Ford Escort).

Driving brilliantly, Groenewald blasted the Escort to first place in race two, followed by du Toit, Paige Lindenberg (Ford Fairlane) and Marc Miller (Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint).

Veteran Seef Fourie Sr took his Datsun 160Y to victory in the first International Race Supplies Midvaal Historics heat, chased to the line by Karel Stols (Toyota Etios), Francis Aldrich (Opel Corsa) and Ian Kilburn (Datsun 1200 GX Coupe).

Stols won the second race, chased to the finish line by Jonathan du Toit (Honda Civic), Wesley Rautenbach (Datsun 1200 GX) and Aldrich.

Clubmans

Both On Track Magazine Clubmans races went to Glenton Rebello (Birkin S3), leading home Adriaan le Roux (Caterham) and Ismail Peck (Lotus 7).

Lotus Challenge

Mackie Adlem (Birkin) won both of the Lotus Challenge races ahead of Rudi Barnard (Birkin) and defending champion Thomas Falkiner (Taylon).

Silver Cup

Marius Jacobs (Opel Tigra Spaceframe), Karel Stols (Mazda RX-7) and Shaun Lampbrecht (BMW 235i) filled the podiums in both the Silver Cup 2.0 races.

Legends

Former category world champion Devin Robertson and brother Jagger swapped victories in the opening two Inex Legend races, while Sebastian Lanzetti and Seef Fourie Jr took turns in the respective third places.

Next race

The next meeting at the Zwartkops Raceway will be another round of the 2023 Historic Tour on Saturday, 23 September.

NOW READ: Historic Tour brings back magic of the past at Red Star