Lobb’s stunning
performance |
|
Round six of the Shelby Can-Am national
championship at Kyalami was also the first time the series
visited the famous Midrand venue this year. With backing from Hawkins Manufacturing, 2009 champion Darryn Lobb only found out he was racing on the Thursday before the race and as he’s already missed two events, he made the most of the opportunity by taking pole position, setting the fastest lap and taking two wins. The first indication of his pace came in qualifying when he secured pole position with a lap of 1 minute 42.593, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Rui Campos in the Hugo Boss car. Championship contender Guy Botterill in the Yato Tools/Bigfoot Express entry headed row two from Alan Eve (Phakisa/Sunshine Testing). Thomas Reib (Jägermeister) was pleased with his fifth place and Brian Algar (Etana Insurance) completed the top six. Eight of the interesting Cape based the V8 Masters cars joined the Shelby Can-Am field and Marcel Angel (Autohaus Angel) set the pace as former Shelby Can Am champion Francois Gerber was next. There was stiff competition in the form of Fabio Tafani (Quench Spring Water) and ex Shelby racer Alan Green as Charles Arton (Redwood Property Ventures) and Ferdi van Niekerk (Duo Plus) made up the top six. Robert Franco (Graphix Supply World) and René Dalias (APV) were the other V8 Masters runners. The opening race saw Lobb win from Eve and Algar. There was early drama as the race was interrupted by the safety car after Arton and Shelby racer Greg Walker (Indy Oil) had separate accidents on lap two. Campos had his hopes dashed when he pitted for attention to an electrical problem on lap three and rejoined behind the V8 Masters middle, but there’s no overtaking allowed when the safety car is out. The next drama was on lap seven when Doug Macdonald (Fantastic Racing) crashed heavily and the safety car was called out again. Botterill’s hopes were dashed when he retired from second place with a gear selection problem. There was no further drama as Lobb took the flag ahead of Eve and Algar while Reib, an elated Andrew Strike (Strike 1 Racing) and Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats) completed the top six. With light fading fast, race two was reduced from 12 to ten laps and despite starting eighth in the partially reversed grid, Lobb still won comfortably, this time from Algar and a fired up Campos who chased him across the line. Eve was a lonely fourth with Bertil Hoffman (GP Energy Drink) and Strike making up the top six after Botterill slowed with more mechanical problems and Reib retired early with a final drive problem. V8 Masters was claimed by Gerber with his old sparring partner Green grabbing second ahead of Angel and Tafani as Dalias and Franco rounded off the top six. On his way to winning the first race Lobb set a new lap record of 1 minute 43.452, which is almost one and a half seconds under Jeroen Bleekomolen’s record (1:45.036) set in set November last year. |