The Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit will burst into life with 44 automobiles entered for the SAES: Nine-Hours of Kyalami for the Southern African Endurance Series’ season finale the place 13 championships go down to the wire together with the celebrated SA Endurance National Championship, SA Endurance Index of Performance Championship and the SA GT National Championship.
SAES: Nine-Hours of Kyalami is ready for an thrilling finish to the season
Double factors are at stake within the SA Endurance National Championship, opening up a five-way combat for total title honours whereas a number of South African drivers which have excelled abroad are within the line-up.
SAES co-founders Xolile Letlaka, Izak Spies and CEO Wayne Riddell are the driving pressure behind bringing the Nine-Hours of Kyalami to Gauteng, with the intention of rising the motorsport viewers for the profit of the game as a complete. Affordability is essential to this goal and ticket costs begin at R50 for basic entry on Friday and R100 for Saturday is step one to reducing the limitations of entry to South African spectators.
With common guests from throughout SA’s borders, the long run imaginative and prescient is to take the 2 spectacular SAES Championships into different African international locations, embracing the “Southern African” facet of the Promotor’s identify.
A significant coup for the Southern African Endurance Series is securing reside SuperSport protection of all of the races from 14h30 on Friday till the chequered flag falls at 21h00 in Saturday. The SAES YouTube channel may also livestream your complete occasion, sharing the motion with motorsport followers the world over.
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SA Endurance
Just seven factors separate the Into Africa Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 entry of Xolile Letlaka, Stuart White and Mikaeel Pitamber and the Stradale Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry of Charl Arangies.
The Into Africa trio has a wealth of present GT3 expertise; White did improvement testing in a brand new Ferrari 296 GT3 in Europe and raced a Ferrari 488 GT3 within the Italian Championship the place he claimed a win and three podiums, including one other win and a number of other podiums within the McLaren Trophy. Letlaka took in two European rounds of the GT Open Championship whereas Pitamber turned the youngest ever GT Open winner after claiming victory in Monza in a SPS-run Mercedes-AMG GT3, a feat he repeated in Spain on the finish of the season.
With a stellar line-up with latest worldwide expertise, the Lamborghini crew ought to begin as odds-on favourites.
Not to be outdone, Charl Arangies comfortably received the SA GT Extreme National Championship in addition to the general Extreme Supercars title. Neveling has plied his commerce in each the Extreme Supercars sequence in addition to the GTC SupaCup Championship and is race match. Kwanda Mokoena, the reigning SA Endurance Champion joins the Stradale Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 staff having competed in a number of GT Open races this yr.
Third within the title chase, Mike McLaughlin and co-driver Steve Clark have the fearsome Backdraft Roadster at their disposal, powered by a mighty 7-litre Chevvy motor. They scored an outstanding second total at Zwartkops final day out and shall be trying to increase their title probabilities at Kyalami with one other prime drawer outcome.
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Hein Lategan has a protracted shot on the title however has armed himself with a “secret weapon’ within the form of Keagan Masters, who competed within the Mobil 1 Porsche Cup this yr (which is a assist race for Formula One), ending third within the Rookie Cup, so he has all the newest data on how to arrange and drive the BBR Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to its most potential. They are joined by Verissimo Tavares who missed two rounds due to enterprise commitments.
Another staff in with an opportunity of snatching the title is the Cape Town-based Dolphin Engineering entry of Byron Mitchell, Peter van der Spuy and Nian du Toit. Their Play.co.za Juno-Nissan has been a constant factors scorer this season and given one other clear run, could give you the option to trigger an upset.
Not bothered by the combat for the general championship however useless eager to win the SAES: Nine-Hours of Kyalami is Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen, karter Jonathan Thomas and Leyton Fourie of their new Adjust4Sleep/Rico Barlow Racing Nova Proto NP02, powered by a Mustang V8 motor. The automotive has solely appeared as soon as and shall be watched with nice curiosity particularly as Adcock and Jensen received the Asian Le Mans Series race in Sepang two weeks in the past, taking the championship lead within the course of thanks to a second place within the first of two Malaysian races. Fourie competed in – and received – the German BMW M2 Championship and efficiently accomplished a check within the Nova Proto with instances that impressed the staff proprietor.
The Giannoccaro household of Ricky, Gianni and Giacomo will compete of their G&H Transport Lamborghini Gallardo, joined on this event by Ant Blunden, all regulars within the G&H Transport Supercars sequence.
Rounding out the Class A entries is the visiting Mozambique-based Sphere Motorsport Toyota Altezza. Powered by a rumbling 4 litre V8 engine, Sergio Alvares, Paul del Re, Pedro Garcia and Rufino Fontes shall be a number one contender amongst the tin-top equipment.
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Class D shall be a frenetic place to be as Volkswagen Motorsport’s trio of Daniel Rowe, Jonathan Mogotsi and newly topped Polo Cup Champion Charl Visser shall be pulling out all of the stops to win each the Class D and Index of Performance titles. Rowe, having raced with totally different co-drivers throughout the season, is alone in his Index chase and solely 21 factors off the lead, thanks to his manufacturing facility VW Polo SupaCup’s Swiss clock–like reliability.
Market rivals Toyota has entered a pair of Gazoo Racing Toyota 86s of their quest to repeat their one-two Index victory finally yr’s Cape nine-hour with their GR Yaris. The 86 automobiles have been raced by motoring journalists this yr and the highest 4 within the Gazoo Racing National Challenge have been rewarded with the Nine-Hour drive. Champion Setshaba Mashigo, Chad Luckoff, Mark Jones and Dennis Droppa tackle Toyota Management in a second automotive. Mario de Sousa, Anand Pather, Leon Theron and journalist Brendon Staniforth, who completed fifth within the Challenge standings will take pleasure in their very own race-within-a-race.
Looking to usurp the manufacturing facility VW squad is the Kalex VW Polo SupaCup of woman racer Karah Hill, Jurie Swart and Keegan Campos. All three have huge saloon automotive expertise and needs to be an actual contender for victory following a bumper-to-bumper strip down and re-build.
The comparable Graphix Supply World Polo SupaCup pushed by David and Robert Franco and shall be joined by Polo Cup rising star Jason Loosemore and prepared to battle their VW rivals and finish their season on a excessive be aware.
Lady racer Fabienne Lanz is sharing her Target Corporate Karting VW Golf with Regard van Zyl and Mario Rossi and are prepared to tackle the Polos in what is bound to be a frantic class D battle.
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Another Mozambique staff making their second look within the SA Endurance championship is the Korridas Racing VW Golf pushed by Bruno Campos and Marcos Rodrigues. The Cape Town-based Hintenaus household is bringing a BMW to the category D social gathering.
Class E, the house of Backdraft-Lexus V8 automobiles is a hotbed of championship motion. Kyalami sees Lenovo be a part of as a assist sponsor with money prizes up for grabs.
Seven of the highest eight within the Index of Performance Championship log all come from Class E, the place the fairytale story belongs to rookie Jean-Paul Briner who’s main the Index of Performance Championship whereas CJ Blackman, his wingman had to miss the final spherical and has dropped to third within the standings. The Tradecor Backdraft would be the one to hold tabs on because the title race goes to the final kilometer of the season.
In the Class E title race, the highest 5 are separated by seven factors; the defending champions Harm and Barend Pretorius (Pesty Racing) are a solitary level forward of Briner, whereas six factors additional again is one other father and son duo Crisjan and Ben Morgenrood Sr of their Ben Morgenrood Group Backdraft with Benjamin readily available to help their title aspirations.
Following two non-finishes this season, the enthusiastic PPLE/Adapt Backdraft trio of Philip Meyer, Mark Harvey and Dean Wolson are out of title rivalry however will race as arduous as ever as will Team Qhubani’s Fikile Holomisa, Baphumze Rubuluza and Xolela Njumbuxa, who’ve additionally had a lower than excellent season with two non-finishes.
Two manufacturing facility Backdraft staff have entered, pushed by veteran race and rally driver Trevor Graham and Karshan Naidoo whereas the second automotive is crewed by Gian Gabbiani, the son of former F1 driver Beppe who raced for Surtees and Osella within the late Nineteen Eighties. He is joined by fellow Italian Huober who’s a traditional automotive restorer and supplier and has raced powerboats whereas Mark Owens, sixth within the class standings has been drafted into the staff.
Brandon Dean, Barry Ingle and Cape-based Masters V8 racer Fabio Tafani will tackle the Backdraft of Gavin Rooke – who normally races with Owens and shares sixth within the standings – and Richard van Heerde in one other thrilling conflict throughout the Backdraft battle.
More worldwide flavour permeates Class E as former American Drag racer Dan Hirsch and Italian bike racer Manuel Grandi staff up in one other Backdraft. Hirsch has competed within the Simola Hillclimb and the Illuma 24-hour race whereas Grandi raced bikes for ten years in addition to vehicles in Europe amongst his intensive profession.
1-Hour Dash:
Nine automobiles have entered the 1-Hour Dash Championship, headed by a pair of Chevvy V8-powered Ginetta G57s pushed by Craig Jarvis and Simon Murray. The Ginetta was initially designed as a LMP2 automotive and is an thrilling machine to watch. Another sports-prototype machine entered for the 1-Hour Dash is the Xena Chemicals Ligier-Honda JS49 which can debut within the palms of Andrew Horne this weekend.
Michael Stephen leads the 1-Hour Dash Championship by eight factors from veteran Oval and V8 racer Roelf du Plessis. Stephen’s Ultimate Outlaws Audi R8 GT3 Evo has been nearly untouchable this yr whereas the Ultimate Outlaws McLaren MP4-12C has been within the thick of the motion all yr and shall be joined by Ultimate Outlaws staff boss Izak in his model new Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 which landed in South Africa final Monday.
Francis Carruthers is bringing his Pilbeam-Nissan from Cape Town to tackle the large sportscars whereas Gianni Giannoccaro is fielding his mighty G&H Transport Nissan GT-R which is greater than succesful of holding his personal with the large weapons.
Nicky Dicks (Curvent Porsche 996 RSR) will battle it out with the Nissan whereas a non-public race takes place between three Class D Volkswagen SupaCup entries of Anthony Pretorius (Bucketlist Racing) and Kyle Robinson (AF Fans) shall be joined by Mike Verrier in his Volkswagen Golf. Verrier is a widely known Cape racer within the Sports and GT sequence in addition to the Knysna Hillclimb, the place he races a mildly modified Shelby CanAm-Nissan.
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SA GT Championship:
Michael Stephen has received six of the seven rounds of the SA GT National Championship to date in his Ultimate Outlaws Audi R8 GT3 Evo and is on the cusp of incomes his 19th National Championship. His lead of 28 factors, with 70 obtainable over the weekend, is under no circumstances a finished deal as Aldo Scribante has been a mannequin of consistency in his Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
In an effort to increase his probabilities, Stuart White helped the staff with set-up modifications on the remaining Sprint race final month. The vivid yellow Cemza Cement Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of the outgoing SAGT Champion Silvio Scribante, will play his half in serving to his brother within the championship combat.
Stephen and the Scribante brothers are additionally combating for the Pro Class Championship however could have to hold a eager eye on their rear-view mirrors for the Into Africa Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Stuart White, who shall be out to win each races. The younger Free State driver holds the outright lap document at Zwartkops Raceway and would love one other document to be written in opposition to identify.
Three drivers are combating for the ProAm title, at the moment headed by Andrew Culbert in his Bigfoot Express Mercedes-AMG GT3. 29 factors behind Culbert is the Ultimate Outlaws McLaren MP4-12C of Roelf du Plessis following a non-start on the final spherical, which dented his title hopes.
Revving up for the Nine-Hour race is the Into Africa and Southern African Endurance Series promotor Xolile Letlaka in his Lamborghini Huracan GT3, additionally entered within the ProAm class. He is joined by fellow SAES shareholder Izak Spies in his ProAm Ultimate Outlaws Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
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Spies is assured of third within the ProAm standings as his most important rival Paul Hill shall be absent from Kyalami due to one other unlucky operation on his shoulder.
Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express Mercedes-AMG GT3) is 2 factors away from main the Am Championship, however together with his title rival lacking Kyalami, is nearly assured of his second consecutive championship title.
Both Craig Jarvis and Simon Murray’s Ginettas, competing within the 1-Hour Dash, have entered the GTO class of the SA GT Championship, providing spectators an additional alternative to see these rarely-seen machines in motion.
The Team’s Championship is simply too shut to name. Ultimate Outlaws is 14 factors clear of Scuderia Scribante with the chances stacked in Ultimate Outlaws’ favour as they’ve three automobiles entered versus the 2 for Scuderia Scribante.
BigFoot Express is assured of third place within the Team’s standings.
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Kyalami VIP and VVIP Experience:
SAES has crafted a VIP package deal for discerning company costing R1000 per particular person. The package deal consists of all meals, a money bar, a non-public viewing space on the Legends Boma in addition to entry to the Paddock Lounge above the pits and the stellar line-up of musicians that features Cassper Nyovest, DJ Zinhle, Mörda and the Kings of The Weekend.
Tickets will be additional upgraded to a VVIP package deal which features a sizzling lap in a racing automotive across the world-famous 4.5km monitor.
General Admission Tickets:
Tickets price R50 per particular person for Friday entry and R100 per particular person on Saturday for basic entry. Spectators are welcome to convey their gazebos, braais and refreshments and park in opposition to the fence to watch the motion.
Published by MotorPress
For extra information in regards to the SA Endurance sequence and different native motorsport, comply with our motorsport web page.
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