Summarize

The Gauteng Regional Festival could not have chosen worse weather to race in if it tried on Saturday, but an enthusiastic Cape Town crowd braved the storm coming in to enjoy a brilliant day of North versus South racing at the end of a wet and dry day at Killarney. The fifth round of the Gauteng Festival was its annual away race weekend. Being in the Cape this year, most classes opened the door for the WP’s finest to come out and strut their stuff. In most cases, that left the visitors to let them take the glory while they concentrated on continuing their Northern Regions championship campaigns.

Local hero Nian du Toit had little trouble to tick off the opening BMW M Performance Parts race win from visitors Ryan Naicker and Renzo Torrente, and another local, Marco Retter. Mansoor Parker rubbed it in with another Cape win in Class B from Dean Ball and Renier Smith, but upcountry driver Reinhardt Miller made amends with the Class C win from locals Oliver Hintenaus and Daanyaal Coetzee. A wet track could not stop du Toit from taking the double from Naicker and Retter. Parker took B from Ball, and Miller maintained Gauteng honour from Coetzee and Varish Ganpath.

There was little respite for the visitors in the opening BMW M Performance Parts D and E race when yet another local, E man Ernest Page held visiting D winner Claudio Jardim and second Cape E man Faizal Jacobs off. D visitors Trevor Long followed from Matthew Wadeley, with upcountry E man Johan Miller in chase. Page went on to do the double from Jacobs and Stephen Aucamp in the combined second race, while Long turned the tables on Jardim in Class D.

The PABAR VW Challenge also allowed local API Property GTi Challenge guest drivers to compete. Together they delivered more than their fair share of drama. The locals, who benefit a more Killarney-oriented set-up, set the pace as Nathan Victor held Jurie Swart and Schalk Geldenhuys off to win the opening race. Wayne Masters meanwhile took maximum PABAR Class A points from brother Bevin. Locals Nur Abass and Mohammed Khalfey took the Class B win as Stuart Mack took PABAR B honours from Ethan Coetzee and Shiren Rajpaul. Chris Tait won Class C from Andy Gossman and Philip Croeser. 

A huge crash for Victor left Swart to take the re-started race 2 from Geldenhuys. The Masters brothers Wayne and Bevin once again took PABAR honours from Luigi Ferro and Mydi Mfana, while Chris Tait beat Gossman and Mitch Coetzee in Class E. A wet and treacherously slippery second Class B race saw local Razleigh Harris win from top PABAR man Dewald Theron. Josh Wilford was second among the PABAR drivers, while log leader Stuart Mack grabbed those points in third.

The Mobil 1 V8 Supercars were joined by the local V8 Masters at Killarney. There was however no stopping young Supercar champion Julian Fameliaris from romping off to win in his Corvette from Thomas Reib’s Lumina and veteran Larry Wilford’s Falcon. Masters winner Sean Moore followed from Jason Ibbotson, Supercar man Warren Lombard and Master Gary Thomson.

The local Libre contingent had less of an effect on the DOE Formula Vee partnered by CIM Lubricants opening race, where upcountry visitors filled the first race podium. Veteran Peter Hills continued his fight back with another win over Lendl Jansen, who had dominated the early season. Theodore Vermaak ended fourth from Brandon Hills, Richard Carr, local karting convert Joshua Smit, Kelly Fletcher and Shaun van der Linde. Peter led Brandon Hills, Vermaak, Carr, Smit, Fletcher and Watt home in race 2. Peter Hills then rounded off a perfect day at the races with the third heat win out of three from Jansen, Carr, Smit, Watt, Brandon and Vaughn Hills, and van der Linde.

GT trio, Phillip Meyer took the opening Ferro Energia 111 Sports and Saloon race in his Porsche 924 from George Economides’ turbo Golf and Dawie Olivier’s BMW Class A winner Lindsay Clur’s and Piet Potgieter’s Golfs followed, as Polo men Luigi Ferro took Class B, and Wouter Roos D, and Rob Clark’s Honda Class D. Economides took revenge in a wet, wet, wet race 2 with Louis Scholtz a fine second in his Ballade second from Meyer. Wayne Robb took Class A in his Focus, Clark Class D, Roos C and Mydi Mfana’s Polo Class B. 

The Volkswagen Rookie Cup joined the touring Festival as Judd Bertholdt took the opening race from Jayden Goosen, Josh Moore, Dhivyen Naidoo and Uzair Khan to tighten up the title chase in race 1. Race 2 provided an additional curve ball for the rookies on a wet track racing into the evening gloom, but that did not prevent Bertholdt from taking the double from Naidoo, Khan and Moore, after Goosen ran into trouble later in the race.

A pair of local Laude Classic Car races also benefited a few upcountry visitors as local man Franco Donadio’s Little Chevy Can Am held guest James Temple’s Daytona Cobra and Mark Uytenbogaardt’s Fairlane off. Dave Kopke’s Mazda R100 returned in fourth from Wynand Nel’s Escort and Bruce Avern-Taplin’s Corolla. The upcountry challenge faltered in race 2, leaving Donadio to romp off for the win from Nel, Kopke, Avern-Taplin, BMW 325iS duo David Alhadeff and Robert Rowe, and Charles Arton’s Porsche 914.

The Gauteng Regional Festival now returns home for its next round up north at Zwartkops on 14 September, two weeks after the next Cape Power Series regional races back at Killarney on 31 August.