Rallycross fever in Cape Town
SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED TRACK: MOTHER CITY TREATED TO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION Of interest will be the presence of locals Mark Cronje and Ashley Haig-Smith.
For Capetonian enthusiasts, the highlight of this year’s motorsport season will arrive with international style this weekend.
The occasion will be the final round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship.
The racing is set to happen around a specially constructed 1.07 kilometre track at the Killarney Raceway.
Topping the weekend’s attractions will be various elimination races and final round of the year’s title chase for Rallycross Supercars.
These two-litre turbocharged all-wheel-drive vehicles produce some 450 kW and are piloted by some of the world’s top mixed surface driving experts.
Heading up the entry list will be already-crowned 2017 world champion Johan Kristofferson and former world rally ace Petter Solberg, in their Volkswagen Sweden VW Polo models.
Their closest adversaries should include people like Mattias Ekstrom (Red Bull Audi), multiple former world rally champion Sébastien Loeb (Peugeot 208), Andreas Bakkerud (Hooningan Ford Focus RS), Kevin Eriksson (Ford Fiesta), Ken Block (Hooningan Ford Focus RS), Timmy Hansen (Peugeot 208) and Toomas Heikkinen (Audi S1).
Of huge interest to local enthusiasts will be the presence of South African drivers Mark Cronje (Albatec Peugeot 208) and Ashley Haig-Smith (Olsbergs Ford Fiesta).
The Supercar categories will tackle four Qualifying races and a semi-final, whittling the entry down to the quickest six contenders, who will go head to head in Sunday afternoon’s final six-lap race.
The same procedure will be in place in supporting races for RX2 cars and South African rally drivers.
The RX2 cars are identical mid-engined, all-wheel drive vehicles with normally-aspirated 2,4-litre four-cylinder engines, while the SA Rally Cars are frontwheel drive, 1 600cc vehicles.
The event will also include Monster Energy stunt exhibitions, pit walks, off road racing car exhibitions, drifting displays, and Silver Falcon air displays on both Saturday and Sunday.