Vodacom Sports Prototype Championship
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Unpredictable Eastern Cape weather turned round four of the
Vodacom Sports Prototype championship into a lottery as last minute gambles on tyre choices and a slick surface on the Aldo Scribante circuit ruined many opportunities. Qualifying for these Nissan V6 powered Sportscars was held on Friday afternoon in blustery but dry conditions and Francois Gerber in the Autohaus Paint and Panel entry claimed pole position with a time of 1 minute 01.745 seconds for the 2.48 km circuit. Lined up alongside was Garth Waberski (Dache Imports) while Alan Eve put in a good lap in the Powerseal backed car to head row two from reigning champion Neil Lobb (DK Woodcraft). With his Kyalami damage repaired, Donovan Roscoe (Protea Playing Cards) started from fifth while Alan Green completed the top six in his Boltt/DK Office entry. The track was wet when the cars set out on their war-up lap and as they formed up on the grid for race one, Roscoe opted for a last minute change to wet weather tyres. Seeing this, so Gerber did the same, but instead of changing wheels on the grid, he elected to do it from the pits and thus start from the back of the grid. All cars run on specified Goodyear racing tyres, with drivers having a choice between 'wets' and treadless 'slicks' suitable for dry conditions. Halfway through his tyre change, Roscoe changed his mind again and would start on ‘slicks’ while the majority of the pack took the safer option of ‘wets’. As the only front row occupant, Waberski took the lead from the start and took an untroubled, but important six second win from Gerber who, in the end did not start from the back of the pack. Lobb was an overly cautious third, yet still six seconds clear of Green who fended off a strong challenge from Ruan Pretorius (Nusol/John Abbot Motorsport). Terry Voller (Boltt/Carrera Sunglasses) claimed sixth after a spin or two while Roscoe got seventh and rued his decision to stick with slicks. Eve also started on slicks and slithered down the order to finish eighth. It was dry in race two, but as Waberski led the field on the opening lap Roscoe and Green tangled at the hairpin. Roscoe was livid, claiming that Green had deliberately shunted him off to protect Lobb. Waberski went on to take another win, but Gerber was only a few car lengths behind. Lobb was third again while Pretorius scored fourth after a good drive. Eve was a lonely fifth as Green recovered to take sixth ahead of Colin Frost (Strocam) and Richard Wood. Gary Green ended his race by burying the Autozone car in the tyres at the hairpin shortly before the end, which left Voller and Franz Pretorius (Nusol/John Abbot Motorsport) to complete the top ten. |