Summarize

Saturday 4 November is a red letter day for Gauteng and other race fans with Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit hosting its second action packed Motorsport Festival of the year featuring a full and varied program set to deliver explosive circuit racing action in keeping with the meeting's Guy Fawkes weekend timing.

Fans will be treated to National Championship racing of the highest order in Sasol GTC, Engen Volkswagen Cup, Investchem Formula 1600 and the Hankook Formula Vees, backed up by thrilling National Challenge G & H Transport Extreme Supercars races. A star-studded supporting act includes the rolling thunder of V8 Supercar Invitational races, the Volkswagen Challenge and a packed autObarn Superhatch and 111 Sports & Saloon grid, while the Red Square Kawakasi ZX10 Masters and races for the Bridgestone Thunderbikes, Sub 10 and Challenge motorcycles will entertain two-wheeler fans.

Perhaps the biggest excitement of the day will come courtesy of the G&H Transport Extreme Supercars, where Charl Arangies' new Aston Martin Vantage will be among those out to unsettle King of Kyalami Toby Venter’s fearsome Porsche 911 GT2R. Add Marcel Angel and Craig Jarvis’ Ferrari 458, the Porsches of Johan Engelbrecht, Dino Scribante, Sun Moodley and Andrew Culbert, Deon du Plessis’ wieldy KTM X-Bow and Dawie Olivier ’s wildcard ‘Baby Beemer' and fans can expect action of the highest order.

There’s plenty intrigue a little further back in the G&H Supercar field with other new entries including Pieter Zeelie’s intriguing Super GT Toyota MR2, Brian Hastie’s mysterious Jaguar, Marius Jackson’s Audi A4 and Roy Orbery’s Alfa Romeo GT to take on brothers Mark and Jonathan du Toit’s Ferraris and the regular horde of BMWs in the ranks.

The epic Audi-BMW Sasol GTC championship duel between Michael Stephen and Gennaro Bonafede is another on-track highlight in a field that is slowly swelling. That’s thanks to Iain Stevenson’s Comsol Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen trio Nick Adcock, Darryn Lobb and Johan Pretorius joining the GTC grid to take on the likes of Keagan Masters’ championship leading Golf, privateers Charl Smalberger and Trevor Bland and the minis of Bradley Liebenberg and Chris Shorter.

Perhaps the surprise package and surely among the quickest races of the day, the SAMCAR V8s will provide a certain blast from the past in a star studded field that includes exciting newcomers the likes of flying lass Lonika Maartens and young Benjamin Morgenrood taking on race heroes and former V8 champions like Benjamin’s dad Ben Morgenrood’s Ford Mustang, Grant van Schalkwyk in a Chev Corvette and Larry and Terry Wilford’s Ford Falcons in what can only be described as a field of thunder.

South Africa’s junior national titles have already been decided with Devin Robertson crowned Engen Volkswagen Cup champion and Julian van der Watt having wrapped up the Investchem Formula 1600 title, so there should be no holds barred in both those classes. So expect the likes of Juan Gerber, Clinton Bezuidenhout, Jeffrey Kruger and Shaun La Reservee to be fighting for Polo runner-up honours, while Stuwie White, Cameron O’Connor and others will fight over the Formula 1600 scraps.

The various regional support classes can also be expected to thrill, with the action topped by a tough and entertaining VW Challenge spat between veteran Iain Pepper and Stiaan Kriel up front, Adrian Wood and Lyle Ramsay in Class B and Rory Atkinson and Shaun Crous in C. The Hankook Formula Vees are always entertaining to watch with Jaco Schriks, Peter Hills, Greg Wilson, Luchen Ramchander and Namibian Siyabonga Mankonkwana fighting it out there. 

Brett Garland, Jono du Toit, Nic Martin, Chris Davison and Mel Spurr are among the autObarn Super Hatch frontrunners racing amongst a monster grid of 111 Sports and Saloon Cars, while Sven Grune, Sanjiv Singh, Greg and Gareth Bezuidenhout should be the frontrunners in the ZX 10 Masters motorcycles.

The Kyalami Motorsport Festival promises a great day out for race fans, enthusiasts or anyone keen on an entertaining day’s extreme entertainment — spectator embankments at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit offer excellent views of the track and race fans are encouraged to bring and braai. There will be a lunchtime grid walk where spectators can meet the drivers and see the race cars up-close on the starting line and there will be a Galleria Expo Retail Hall too.

General access starts at R50 up to a R400 premium package, pit passes are R75 each and kids under 12 enter free — book now at itickets.co.za.

See you at Kyalami 4 November!