The cat shows its claws at Zwartkops
The Exclusive Glass Hencom Auto Body Jaguar XKR performed spectacularly in front of a very appreciative crowd at Zwartkops International Raceway on Saturday, July 26 at the hands of Emalahleni based racing driver George Smith in the Super Saloons Series.
George qualified on the front row of the grid in second place 1.2 seconds behind the Chev Corvette of Andries Marx and ahead of the Corvette of Larry Wilford in a field of 22 competitors.
The status quo was maintained during Race 1 with George chasing the Corvette of Marx hard but not managing to get close enough to manage a serious challenge.
The Exclusive Glass Hencom Auto Body Jaguar XKR started Race 2 on the front row of the grid again, but was much more competitive after several adjustments were made to the suspension to correct under-steer, improving handling of the car and allowing George to mount a serious challenge. With the Jaguar hard on the heels of the Corvette of Marx, the safety car had to be deployed due to a racing incident.
George used this opportunity to mount pressure at the restart on the Corvette in front of him, forcing the Corvette into a mistake resulting in the Corvette spinning out in turn two on lap 7, giving George the lead that he never relinquished, winning the race ahead of Jody Viana in a Mazda RX8.
George therefore took the overall win of the day, with Andries Marx in second place in his Super Said Chev Corvette and Larry Wilford in third in Class A in his Chev Corvette.
George’s next race is at the Phakisa International Raceway on August 2 where he will be competing in the SA Sports and GT Championship in the V8 Supercars category.
