National Endurance Series fails to disappoint at Red Star

The South African Endurance Series started at the Red Star Raceway near Delmas on Saturday, with an extremely close finish earmarking the four-hour event.

Close finish

After 109 laps around the four-kilometre circuit, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS of Heinrich Lategan, Henk Lategan and Verissimo Tevares crossed the finish line 0.809 seconds ahead of the Audi R8 of Paul Hill and Bradley Liebenberg.

Third, six laps further behind, was the Volkswagen SupaCup of Karah Hill and Jurie Swart, after a consistent, faultless drive.

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Fourth, after a heartbreak story, was the Backdraft Roadster V8 of Mike Mcloughlin and Steven Clarke.

After running in the top three places throughout the race, the Backdraft took the lead with less the 40 minutes left to go, only to burst into flames almost within sight of the the chequered flag.

It was parked on the side of the track, with the distance it had travelled gaining it fourth place overall, at the finish of the race.

Fifth and sixth places went respectively to Mark Harvey/Dean Wolson/ Phillip Meyer (Backdraft Roadster) and Trevor Graham/Dan Hirsch (Backdraft Roadster).

How the race unfolded

After starting from pole position, the Audi of Hill and Liebenberg led most of the race, with the Lategan/Taveras Porsche about half a lap behind.

Third, planning on just a single pit stop versus the other teams’ two, the Mcloughlin/Clarke Backdraft hung on in the same lap.

Their strategy worked perfectly, and they went from third to the race lead with about an hour to go.

A determined Henk Lategan got his head down in the Porsche and passed the Backdraft with just more than 30 minutes to followed by the subsequent fire to the latter.

Boxing clever, Lategan slowed down slightly, ensured they would only have to complete one more lap, and crossed the line less than a second ahead.

The Index of Performance victory went to the Backdraft, ahead of Steve Clark Backdraft and the Volkswagen SupaPolo of CJ Blackman/Anthony Hoare and Jean Paul Briner.

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