South Africa’s national championship sports car series, Shelby Can-Am, travels to the revised Kyalami circuit in Midrand for round three of the championship. 

In February Shelby Can-Am was a non-championship support event to the A1GP and the massive nine car first lap accident at turn two will be fresh on everyone’s minds.  

The removal of the chicane is expected to knock about two seconds off the lap times and now the run from the bowl to the hairpin leading onto the pit straight will give drivers a chance to let their Nissan V6 engines sing.   

2007 champion Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft) looks a safe bet to regain his crown this year and has got off to a good start by winning each race in Cape Town and also taking one of the wins at Zwartkops in round two. 

Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) was able to keep him honest in Cape Town, but was out of luck at Zwartkops and is 18 points behind Lobb. However, with 20 points on offer for each race, the championship battle is still wide open. 

Only seven points behind Campos is Brian Algar (Thuthuka Welding) who has proved to be remarkably consistent and is long overdue for a win. 

Holding fourth in the title race is none other than Thomas Reib who took a superb win in the last round and would love to give new sponsor Coolstar Beverages a win at Kyalami.  

Another driver who has shown a good turn of speed this year is Dutch racer Bertil Hofmann (IOU Music) who has a point to prove after the race at the A1GP where he was partly blamed for the spectacular crash. Alan Eve (Phakisa) is one of the most experienced racers in the country and is more than capable of snatching a win while no one is watching.  

Hovering just outside the top six is sportscar stalwart Colin Frost (Strocam) who has had a good start to his season but is only one point clear of Durban’s JP Bredenhann (PanelRite).  

A retirement from the second race at Zwartkops cost Dave Beattie (Dura) dearly and he is tied on 36 points with Durban’s newcomer Andrew Strike (Strike 1 Racing) with another newcomer, Greg Walker (Bizfone) from Cape Town not far behind. 

Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing) missed the last round due to business commitments, but he’ll be out mixing it with the leaders while Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express) has had an encouraging start to his year. Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats) has also had a dream start to his year although a retirement from the second race in Cape Town cost him dearly. 

Craig Shorter (Execuline) has a tough job balancing racing against business commitments. As a result Kyalami marks his start to the season, but he could mix it with the leading pack. 

Richard Wood and Harry Roscoe (Protea Playing Cards) are stalwarts of the sports car racing scene and along with Trevor Frost race simply because they enjoy close competition, and they are often involved in close battles.