Summarize

Gqeberha race fans can look forward to something a little different when Gauteng’s premier motor racing classes descend on the Aldo Scribante racetrack for their annual away races on Saturday 2 September. To that end, the Gauteng Pabar VW Challenge, BMW M Performance Parts Race Series, Lotus Challenge, DOE Formula Vees, Car Care Clinic 111 GTs Sports and Saloons are locked and loaded and ready to thrill the Eastern Cape.

The Pabar VW Challenge takes its second away trip in three weeks with two of its three class titles fighting it out punch-by-punch. Overall leader Yotti Nousias may have Class C under control, but it’s a very different story in Classes A and B. Rory Atkinson is back in the yo-yo all Polo 6R top class A championship lead over brothers Bevin and Wayne Masters, while young Dean Ross had a great last outing, and proven contenders Waldie Meintjes and Charl Smalberger return to action too.

Just four points separate young Ethan Coetzee and champion Hannes Scheepers’ at the top in Class B championship chase. Ross Butt sits third in that highly competitive class, with Elna Croeser, Jacques Hayes, Shiren Rajpaul, Mo Karodia, Tinahe Ncube and another racing lass Charisse van der Merwe in chase. A huge class in its own right, B races alone. Class C however races behind with Class A, where Yotti Nousias has Philip Croeser, Bjorn Bertholdt Andy Gossman and Allan Pereira baying for his blood in the Brat Pack.

The BMW M Performance Parts Race Series classes also split into two races. Classes A, B and C race together, where log leader Leon Loubser will have Bob Neill and Shaun Gradwell to deal with in Class A at the Bay. Turbo lot Andreas’s Meier, Nek Makris and Lyle Ramsay will have normally aspirated Class B rivals Nicholas van Zyl, Renier Smith and Oz Biagioni at full power down by the sea, and Gauteng Class C men Nick Fischer, Troy Cochran and Vigen Naidu are on neutral ground against Cape rival Anwar Levy at Aldo.

Classes D and E will also entertain as ever as they race on their own. That’s where D championship leader Reinhardt Miller will take on Neil Reynolds, Matthew Wadeley, Lenard Archer, Andre Diedericks and local Eastern Cape interlopers Stephan Aucamp, Marais Ellis, and Paul Berry in the bigger division. Gauteng regulars, Arri van Heerden, Dewald Smith, Claudio Jardim and Caren Nienaber meanwhile have another Cape BMW wildcard in Marco Retter, and local hero Javelin Ramsamy to deal with in Class E.

Race fans can always rely on the DOE Formula Vees to put on more than just a spectacular show and Aldo Scribante will be no different. 2022 champion Peter Hills is keen to get back on the 2023 title charge after the ever-consistent Jaco Schriks re-opened his advantage last time out. Win or bust so far this year, Hills will also have to keep an eye out for Lendl Jansen and MD Bester, Kyle Watt Eric Booyens, Shaun van der Linde and son Brandon around the quick, tight, and challenging Nelson Mandela Bay racetrack.

Thomas Falkiner may have dominated the Lotus Challenge for quick and wieldy Sevens through the earlier part of the season, but he will be hoping that the thick coastal air will return him some of the power advantage that his Taylon 7 seemed to have lost over Mackie Adlem, who won last time out in his Birkin. Also watch for Rudi Barnard, Andre Human and Andrew Kynaston in top class B. And Sean Hepburn, Davide Favo, Miles Downard, Nick Hodgson, and Andre du Plessis in the high value Locost class ruckus.

Rated on variety alone, the Car Care Clinic 111 GTs Sports and Saloons will entertain. But the racing there is always good too. The GT Class sees ex-Production Car racer Dawie Olivier and 111 veteran Lenard Archer out in a pair of hot BMWs against a little exotica in Johan van der Vyver’s Subaru and Phillip’s Meyer Porsche 924 GTR. They all face a gang of Volkswagens including George Economides and Louis Scholtz’s turbo Golf 1s, Jandre Bezuidenhout in a Supercup, and a horde of Polos, Golfs, Hondas, Opels and Porsches in the classes.

With practice Friday, qualifying early and racing from 10 am Saturday, the Formula Vees and 111s race three times each, with the rest having two races on the day. Buy tickets at the gate to celebrate the arrival of spring with some great racing and something a little different from the norm at Aldo Scribante Saturday!