National Endurance series set for quality Killarney 9-Hour

The 2022 South African Endurance Championship will end on a high note this Saturday (10 December), with a field of 43 cars taking to the tarmac in the Killarney 9-Hour race.

With the season finale counting for double championship points, the year’s overall and five class titles will be up for grabs.

Entries

Heading up the overall championship is Kwanda Mokoena, sharing his Amandla Coal MJR Audi R8 GT3 with Andrew Rackstraw and international Audi factory driver Dennis Marschall.

Mokoena’s closest challenger, just two points behind, will be Hein Lategan, with son Henk and Verissimo Tavares in the BBR Racing Porsche 911 GT3.

Third on the title ladder is Tschops Sipuka, sharing the Africa Race Together Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo with Stuart White and Xolile Letlaka.

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Championship contest apart, the race will boast 12 Class A entries and some impressive names. There will be a trio of Africa Le Mans Ginetta G55 GT3 entries, the first driven by five times Le Mans 24-hour winner Emanuele Pirro, plus his sons Cris and Goffredo.

The second Ginetta will be driven by British Touring Car ace Anthony Reid, Hennie Groenewald and Murray Shepherd, with the third in the hands of Sarel van der Merwe, Jan Lammers and Greg Mills.

Mikaeel Pitamber will team up with Gavin Cronje and Nick Adcock in their Aidcall247/Rico Barlow Ligier JS53 Evo.

An interesting entry is the Mobil 1 Ford Mustang of Julian Familiaris, Franco di Matteo and Warren Lombard, that has undergone 23 modifications to change it from a sprint car to an endurance car.

South African GT Series driver Mo Mia has teamed up with Lee Thompson in the Toys-R-Us Porsche 911 GT3, while Francis Carruthers and Steve Humble have entered a Nissan V6-powered Pilbeam MP84 LMP2 under the Harp Motorsport banner.

Dolphin Engineering has entered a Nissan 3.2-litre powered Juno SS3 for Peter van der Spuy, Byron Mitchell and Sean Moore, while Mike McLoughlin/Steve Clark will drive their seven-litre Backdraft Slingshot.

Rounding out the Class A entry is the all-Maputo team of Sergio Alvares, Cristian Bouche, Paul Del Re and Rufino Fontes in a Toyota Altezza powered by a Lexus V8 engine.

A total of 13 modified saloon cars have entered Class D, headed by VW Motorsport’s Daniel Rowe and Keagan Masters (Polo SupaCup), David/Roberto Franco/Danie Van Niekerk (Graphix Polo SupaCup),  Karah Hill/Michael Stephen/Jurie Swart (Kalex Polo SupaCup) and Christopher/Anthony Pretorius (Bucketlist BMW M340i).

Others to watch must include Ricky/Jimmy/ Gianni Giannoccaro/ Ant Blunden (G+H Transport Mazda MX-5), plus Craig Rapp, Robi Bernberg, Adam Richardson and Paul Ugo in a BMW 328i Turbo.

Ben/Benjamin/Crisjan Morgenrood (Morgenrood) will lead the Class E Backdraft category from Harm and Barend Pretorius (Pesty), Baphumze Rubuluza/Fikile Holomisa/Xolela Njumbunxa (Qhubani), Phillip Meyer/Mark Harvey/Dean Wolson (Pple Adapt), plus the Italian duo of Gianmaria Gabbiani and Alberto Huober, who will be joined by Mags Govender.

Eight teams have signed up for the One-Hour Dash, which sees the cars race for the first hour of the 9-Hour race.

They should be led by Mike Verrieir (Harp-Shelby Can-Am), Paul Hil, (Aston Martin Vantage GT3), Izak Spies (Audi R8 GT3), plus Sun Moodley and Andrew Culbert, both in Bigfoot Express Freight Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

Blast-off when?

The action will get underway on Thursday with six hours of open practice ahead of three official practice sessions on Friday morning, before. qualifying takes place at 14.00.

On Saturday, the Killarney 9-Hour will start with grid formalities at 11.30, the National Anthem at noon, and the race gets underway at 12.15.

Tickets for the SAES Cape Motorsport Festival are available at https://www.webtickets.co.za. For further information on the Killarney International 9-Hour, contact the SAES Media Manager Eric Buijs at eric@saeseries.com.