The SA Production Car series reached a thrilling climax at Kyalami on Saturday when Etienne van der Linde clinched the Class A title and Molefe Lebethe was named CAR’s Rookie of the Year.
The SA Production Car series reached a thrilling climax at Kyalami on Saturday when Etienne van der Linde clinched the Class A title and Molefe Lebethe was named CAR’s Rookie of the Year.
Kaye-Eddie BMW 330i driver Reghardt Roets took an unexpected flag-to-flag victory in the opening Class A race, followed by Castrol BMW team-mates and title contenders Anthony Taylor and Van der Linde. Shaun van der Linde, Steve Wyndham’s Ford Credit Falcon XR8 and the Champion EON Mercedes-Benz C320 of Leeroy Poulter followed behind the trio.
The day’s second race was held in pouring rain and several of the drivers were caught out by the tricky conditions… Roets led the race before an off-road excursion and wet electrics stopped his charge. Both Shaun van der Linde and Wyndham spun at high speed, while Martin Steyn’s Flatron Alfa Romeo 156 GTA retired with a puncture after skating through a sand trap.
When the chequered flag fell, Taylor and Van der Linde were in the first two places. Van der Linde clinched the year’s Class A title by virtue of his second place finish. Poulter finished third, ahead of BMW pilots Shaun van der Linde and Mark Allison and Wyndham’s Ford.
Dawie Brough (Prominent Paints Honda Ballade V-TEC) won the opening Class B race ahead of Bert Grogor (German Workshop Toyota Corolla RSi) and Zack da Silva (Imperial Toyota Corolla RSi).
The second race saw both Brough and Grogor spin off the track, leaving Da Silva the only survivor in the class with his Toyota.
Overall Production Car champion Lawrence Boshoff won the opening Class C race in his Orbit Coach Works Honda Ballade 180I, followed by Doug Reekie (Ray-Ban Honda Ballade 180I) and Craig Nicholson (Sabat Honda Ballade 180i).
The next outing saw a brilliant display of wet-weather driving by Jesse Adams, to clinch victory ahead of Boshoff and Reekie.
Angus Thompson (Garonga Safari VW Golf 1600) won the first Class D race, heading home Miguel Pasqualli (Ford Racing Ikon 160I) and class Champion Dave Compton (Bumper Tech Toyota Tazz 1600). Thompson crashed his Golf heavily the second time out while Pasqualli spun his Ford. That left Compton to win, followed by Clint Weston (Furman Glass Ford Ikon 160I) and Roby Beninca (Born to Send VW Golf 1600).
Junior Production Car Champion Darren Murphy (VW Parts CitiGolf ) beat Deon Crous (VW CitiGolf) and Eckhart Schoenknecht (Caltex VW CitiGolf) to claim Class E victories in both races.
Crous was later chosen as the CAR Magazine Rookie of the Day, while Lebethe (Class C OKI Honda Ballade 180I) won R25 000 as the newly-crowned CAR Rookie of the Year.
