Reigning champs keep record
THE MOTORSPORT LAP/ It was a busy weekend both internationally and locally
The World Rally Cross (RX) Championship season opener took place at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona, Spain. Mattias Ekstrom (EK SRX Audi A1) won the Supercar category, followed in second by Timo Scheider (MJP Racing Team Peugeot 208) and Andreas Bakkerud (Hoonigan Racing Ford Fiesta) in third spot.
In the Supercar ERX class, first went to Anton Marklund (Marklund Volkswagen Polo) with Tamas-Pal Kiss (Speedbox Racing Team) in second. Third went to Oliver O’ Donovan (Ford Fiesta). In the Touring Car category Phillip Gehrman (Ford Fiesta) finished first ahead of Petter Brauten (Opel Corsa) in second and Per-Magne Royras (Mazda RX8) in third.
It was also the Blancpain GT Series Championship, which took place at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Italy. In the top tier Sprint Cup category Maxi Buhk and Franck Perera (HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG) finished ahead of Vincent Abril and Steven Kane (Bentley Team M-Sport Continental). Third went to the second HTP Motorsport MercedesAMG of Dominik Baumann and Jimmy Eriksson. In the Silver Cup, Jules Szymkowiak and Fabian Schiller (HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG) took the win in their class. The Pro-AM Cup category win went to Alexander Matschull and Daniel Keilwitz (Renaldi Racing Ferrari).
Locally, it was the Lichtenburg 400, the season opener of the South African Cross Country championship where reigning champs Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie preserved a two-year unbeaten record for the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team when they won the Production Vehicle category. They finished three minutes ahead of Johan and Werner Horn (Malalane Toyota Hilux) to win Class T for cars above 4.0l with solid axle suspension. The final podium place went to Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer in a Ford NWM Puma Lubrications Ranger.
Lesotho driver Stefan van Pletzen and Jaco Pieterse upset the apple cart when they scored a surprise win in the Special Vehicle category. It was a fairytale maiden win for the pair who finished sixth in the overall and Class A championships last season. The cautious approach paid off for Van Pletzen and Pieterse, who had about six minutes in hand over South African champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen in the King Price Extreme BAT Viper.
“We were cautious in the qualifying race and again today,” said Van Pletzen. “It paid off, everything was great today and we enjoyed ourselves.”
Hutchison and Stassen, the pre-race favourites, won the Friday qualifying race to determine grid positions, but stumbled in the race. A puncture on the first of two 170km loops making up the race — with the car falling off the jack — cost them time. Despite the puncture, on the second loop they were comfortably ahead of the husband-and-wife team of Marius and Jolinda Fourie (PHB BAT) who took third place.