Round 1 – Killarney, Cape Town – 21 March |
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Two Shelby Can-Am races were one of the highlights on the popular Pro-Tour National championship series which opened at Cape Town’s Killarney circuit on Saturday (21 Mar) Despite a hurried engine change on Friday, former champion Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft) got his title aspirations off to a perfect start as he scored two wins, each one ahead of current Champion Rui Campos (Hugo Boss). Qualifying was a portent of things to come as Lobb put in a blistering lap to stop the clocks at 1 min 14.940 with Campos a mere 0.116 seconds slower. Business commitments meant Craig Shorter was unable to make the race so the Execuline/Phakisa liveried car was offered to local driver Greg Walker. Despite the fact that he hadn’t even sat in a Shelby Can-Am until the morning he put in the fourth fastest time to line up alongside Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing). Durban’s Jean Paul Bredenhann (Panel-Rite) lined up fifth ahead of Brian Algar in the Thuthuka Welding version. Lobb and Eve got the jump on the pack at the start and set such a pace that they pulled away from the pack at the rate of over a second per lap, By the end of the 10-lap cat vs mouse affair they were 12-seconds clear of third placed Bredenhann. A brilliantly fought three car battle for fourth saw Algar get the verdict by less than half a second from local ace Bertil Hoffman (IOU Music) with Greve a car length adrift with Dave Beattie (DURA) watching them from a distance. Colin Frost (Strocam) was eighth ahead of the rapidly improving Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats) who held off Thomas Reib (Intertrans Oil) by the skin of his teeth. As in the past, race two was combined with the GT Challenge which resulted in a massive 41-car grid of exotic machinery. As expected Toby Venter’s thoroughbred Le Mans spec Porsche 911 GT2 displayed prodigal top end speed as he took the outright win while Lobb drove a tactical race to come through the field to claim the Shelby Can-Am win with second overall. The Shelby Can-Am grid was formed with the top eight in reverse order and once the big field had sorted itself out then it was Alan Eve (Phakisa) who led the Shelby charge before Lobb and Campos expertly threaded their way through the pack to finish in the same order as in the earlier race. Eve was an eventual third as another sensible drive netted fourth for Bredenhann who managed to get the rapid GT2 R Porsche of Laurent Gross between himself and Algar. Greve claimed the points for sixth with Frost ahead of Beattie after yet another good drive. After spinning out in the opening stages of the first race, Walker redeemed himself by taking ninth ahead of Reib. Round two of the Pro-Tour series takes place at Zwartkops near Pretoria on 18th April. |