Mopar series gets national champ status
MOTORSPORT enthusiasts are in for an exciting Mopar South African Endurance Championship series next year.
And Port Elizabeth fans will be able to watch this series at the Aldo Scribante Race Circuit when the three-hour endurance race is staged on October 14.
The series will get a new look, name, cars and far greater excitement. And while most leading competitors are bringing new cars for the season ahead, some drivers don’t know what they will be behind the wheel of come the Phakisa six-hour in February.
The series that has run so successfully as the African Endurance Series over the past three seasons now becomes the South African Endurance Championship, with the winners to be crowned SA National Champions for the first time next year. The seven-round championship will run around South Africa, with each race live-streamed, among several innovations.
Series officials are keen to attract more international competitors, but several regular leading local runners have big plans up their sleeve.
“We have a new car coming,” 2016 champion Simon Murray said.
“We are not ready to say what it will be, but rest assured, it will be quick.”
This year’s runner-up co-driver, Johan Engelbrecht, said: “Francis Curruthers and I will continue in the Mopar SA Endurance Series next year.
“But I really do not know what we will be driving – Francis has bought a new car and he won’t even tell me what it is!”
The duo’s familiar black Juno is also set to stay in the series.
The Campos family is another team playing their cards close to thier chests, not revealing whether Rui and sons Jason and Keegan will continue with their Shelby-Ford V8 or be racing a completely new car.
Other developments include improvements for Vos brothers Duncan and Graham’s race-winning Juno-Jaguar, the likely arrival of a Wolf for a front-running team and several local cars in the works, including new Nardinis, the regular fleet of Shelby Can Am V6s and junior sportscar plans for young drivers aboard SA-built Harper and Nash prototypes.
Even more exciting news is the formation of a GT3 Cup as a regular Mopar SA Endurance Championship highlight and a racing home to the likes of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and Vipers.
The provisional race calendar is:
• February 25: Phakisa six-hour
• April 22: Killarney 500
• June 24: East London threehour
• August 19: KZN three-hour
• October 14: Port Elizabeth three-hour
• 4 Nov Phakisa nine-hour
• December 3: Kyalami 500