This year’s CAR/Liqui Moly Virtual Le Mans Challenge unfolded at Canal Walk in Cape Town over the weekend and provided much action as the top two teams raced flat out until the very last minute to try and beat one another to the finish line.
For the third time, M-Technique walked away with the Virtual Le Mans floating trophy, bragging rights and Big Boy Revival 150 scooters – valued at R8 950 each. Plus the winners also received full-face helmets, gloves and a jacket from Big Boy Scooters. Team Obox finished a very close second with only a few seconds separating the two top teams. Team Vitriolic Racing took the final podium spot.
For the first time, there was a disqualification. One of the drivers from 24 hr Team 426 had injured his finger prior to the event and it was stitched up. Piloting their vehicle did further damage to his injury so, with about 20 minutes left of his two hour stint, he had had enough and switched off the game. The team was immediately out of the race.
Two out-of-town teams were also accommodated and immediately made an impact by clinching the two top qualifying spots. The eight teams that started the race were Team Ryoku Racing (Luke McDowell, Juan Liebenberg and Eric Jacobs), Team Vitriolic Racing (Jade Dafel, Steven Pelser, and Nazeem Edwards), 24 hr Team 426 (Brenton Gregory, Ernest Page, and Venodh Nadasen), M-Technique (Iftikar Dalvie, Nasief Dalvie and Ahraf Enus), Obox (Marc Perel, David Perel and Werner Lotter), GT Team Velocity (Nezaam Cariem, Pieter Kellerman and Basheer Jadwat), M-Technique Junior (Suhail Dalvie, Ebrahim Salie and Lance van Kesteren) and CAR Magazine (Junaid Allie, Ian Kolbe and James Cowley).
For a full report, get the August 2012 issue of CAR, on sale 25 July.