Vodacom Sports Prototype championship. Round 9
– East London
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Garth Waberski is this year’s VSP champion having wrapped
up the championship with two sensible drives at East London’s famed Grand
Prix circuit. Having put the Dache Imports car on pole, he drove steadily from start to finish and win by over three seconds. Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft) surprised everyone by lining up second for his second race in the series on his first visit to the circuit. In the race he was soon passed by Francois Gerber (Autohaus) and then held a steady third before he dropped down the order on lap six and finally retiring on the last lap. With Gerber taking an unchallenged second, Neil Lobb (DK Office) picked up third place ahead of the John Abbot Motorsport entry driven by Ruan Pretorius. Rui Campos (Carrera/Boltt) claimed fifth after a race long duel with Jonathan Finch (S21) who rounded up the top six. Alan Eve (Powerseal) retired after one lap when the body flew off the car in a spectacular explosion of fibreglass. Neil Lobb judged the start of race two a little bit too finely and crossed the start line a couple of seconds ahead of poleman Waberski, which resulted in a 30 second jump start penalty. Lobb drove his heart out to keep ahead of Waberski and win on the road, but he was classified sixth after the penalty was applied. Thus Gerber was promoted to second and with it virtually assured himself of the runner-up slot in the championship log. While one Lobb lost out, it was good news for the younger one who claimed his first podium finish. Ruan Pretorius was a distant fourth with Alan Green (DK/Boltt) in in fifth. Franz Pretorius (John Abbot Motorsport) stunned everyone, including himself, by holding fifth for two thirds of the race before being overtaken by Ruan Pretorius and Green and eventually finishing seventh. The result leaves Gerber almost certain to finish the season in second place, although Neil Lobb has a mathematical chance of taking it at the final round of the series at Kyalami next month. |