Single Seaters and Sports Prototypes:
That’s a wrap for qualifying, which presented plenty of stress for several competitors who hadn’t yet posted a decent time, or hadn’t managed to complete a run at all in order to try secure a slot in the Class Finals this afternoon.
Andre Bezuidenhout threw down the gauntlet with his best time yet this weekend of 34.830 seconds, reaching a top speed of 239 km/h on the uphill straight in the Gould GR55. With his main rival, Robert Wolk, out of action with a blown engine, it’s another peerless performance from the well-known advocate and racing driver – just 0.669 sec off his outright record from last year. Wolk’s time of 37.259 seconds was good enough for second overall, but counted for nothing in the end.
Due to driveshaft problems on his Radical 1300 Pro Sport Devin Robertson hadn’t completed a qualifying run, but he came back with a vengeance and set an impressive time of 39.668 seconds to go third.
The Formula VW battle continues unabated, with Andrew Rackstraw edging ahead with the fourth-fastest time of 40.259 seconds, relegating Byron Mitchell to fifth place by two-hundredths of a second! Rui Campos notched up his quickest run of the weekend (40.745 sec in Q1) in the Shelby CanAm in sixth.
Modified Saloon Cars:
Reghard Roets didn’t go out in the final qualifying session, confident with his Q3 time from yesterday of 38.045 seconds. Franco Scribante edged closer to the leader after crossing the line in 38.763 seconds in Q6 – a difference of 0.718 sec.
2021 winner Pieter Zeelie was another competitor that hadn’t posted a qualifying time going into the final session, but he blasted into third place on his only run on 40.104 seconds in the Toyota MR2 Super GT.
Petter Solberg blitzed a time of 39.984 seconds in his last qualifying run, but it was subsequently deleted for exceeding track limits. Nevertheless, his 40.165 seconds from Q3 yesterday guaranteed fourth place overall.
Charl Joubert’s time of 40.253 seconds from Q3 placed him fifth overall in the Honda V6 twin-turbo Lotus Elise, with brother Dawie ending sixth (41.355 sec in Q3) in the Ferrari 488-powered Lotus Exige.
Road-going Saloon Cars & Supercars:
JP van der Walt recorded his best run of the weekend so far in the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S in Q6 (44.345 sec) to hold a half-second advantage over Garth Mackintosh in the 2017 McLaren 720s (44.919 sec in Q2).
Mercedes-AMG driver Clint Weston secured third overall with a time of 45.939 seconds in the final session. Guest driver Mika Salo posted 46.361 sec in the last run, but the time was deleted due to exceeding track limits, and he was credited a final time of 46.774 seconds and fourth place.
Gordon Nicholson was fifth in the Audi R8 V10 Plus (46.807 sec), followed by Ashley Oldfield in the brand-new BMW XM (47.192 sec).
Adding to the drama, the heavens opened going into the Class Finals, resulting in the 1.9 km Simola Hill being absolutely drenched and a flurry of activity in the pitlane.
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Release compiled by Colin Mileman (082-897-6145 colin@milemanmedia.co.za)