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Second round of this year's series saw close action, but also a series of accidents plus a red flag.
The Aldo Scribante Five-Hour race was won overall by Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White in their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. Photograph: Bonnie Botha
Spectacle, drama and crashes typified round two of the South African Endurance Series, connected by Vodacom 4U, at the Aldo Scribante Raceway in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) on Saturday.
The Aldo Scribante Five-Hour race was ultimately won by Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White in their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
The reigning South African champions finished two laps ahead of Charl Arangies and Arnold Neveling’s Stradale Porsche 911 GT3 R, with the Adjust for Sleep Nova of Charl Visser, Ryan Naicker and Jonathan Thomas third.
The Lamborghini, Nova and Porsche fought for the race lead as their pit stop strategies panned out until lap 161 when the race was red-flagged for half an hour after a massive crash.
It happened when the Backdraft Roadster of Mike McLaughlin and Steve Clark spun and hit the tyre wall in the sweep at high speed, scattering the circuit with broken bodywork and momentarily catching fire as the car came to a stop.
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A trio of Backdrafts driven by Peter Blofield, Andre Bettencourt and Mark Harvey arrived on the scene moments later.
Blofield and Bettencourt both braked hard and Harvey, who was lining up an overtaking move, slammed into Bettencourt at racing speed, got airborne and landed in the tyre wall. No one was injured, but the race was suspended as the circuit was cleared.
In another incident after the restart, the Nova, driven by Visser, hit the White Lamborghini from the back when White swerved to avoid a slower car.
The Huracan was unscathed barring minor body damage, but the Nova suffered a broken front end and made a lengthy stop to fit new bodywork and lights.
More misery followed for the Nova team after being slapped with two drive-through penalties after Thomas had overtaken five cars under a safety car period.
With 75 minutes to go, Visser ran the rest of the race at near qualifying pace, but the deficit was too big and the Nova had to settle for the final podium step.
Arangies and Neveling clinched second place after splitting the race in two, each driver running the Porsche in straight two-and-a-half hour stints.
Fourth place went to Michael Stephen, Silvio and Aldo Scribante in their Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
They were followed by the new Ford Mustang IRC of Franco di Matteo, Julian Familiaris and Romano Sartori.
Gavin Rooke and Richard van Heerde in their Dutchman Browndeck Backdraft Roadster enjoyed a near flawless drive to sixth overall, while also claiming the Class D and Index of Performance honours.
Seventh was the Pesty Backdraft of Harm and Barend Pretorius, followed by Fikile Holomisa, Setshaba Mashigo and Xolela Njumbuxa in their Qhubani Backdraft.
Blofield and co-driver Denver Branders claimed ninth overall in their Backdraft, ahead of Dan Hirsch and Fabienne Lanz’s similar car .
The Samlin Volkswagen SupaPolo of Keegan and Jason Campos claimed 11th place overall and won Class C, ahead of Jan van der Merwe and Mario da Silva in their Backdraft.
The Scuderia Rossi Alfa Romeo Giulia QV quartet of Claudio and Mario Rossi, Regard van Zyl and Werner Vonk was 14th followed by the Combined Racing Honda Civic Type R of Paulo and Ricardo Loureiro.
Damian Hammond powered his Liqui Moly Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo to a comfortable victory in the 1-Hour Dash which ran over the opening 60 minutes of the five-hour race.
Aldo Scribante came home in second in his Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, followed by Marius Jackson in his MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, Andrew Horne (Ligier JS49), Antonie Marx (Shelby CanAm), Roy Obery (Porsche 911 GT3 RS), Mo Mia (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Sun Moodley (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) rounding out the finishers.
Southern African National Endurance Championship connected by Vodacom 4U is proudly partnered with Dunlop Tyres, Foton and Proton, ATS Motorsport, SuperSport, AdaptSigns.co.za, Silverlakes Farm Hotel and Africa Race Together.
For more information, please contact Wayne Riddell: wayne@saeseries.com
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