The 2016 African Endurance Series kicks off with the Six Hours of the Free State at Phakisa 27 February with champions out to defend their titles, their rivals hell-bent on unsettling them and some most exciting new combinations set to stir up the action.
Overall 2016 champion Francis Carruthers and Johan Engelbrecht from the Cape will be the men to beat at Phakisa fresh off Carruthers’ title-winning Killarney 9-hour win with Engelbrecht aboard the Harp Motorsport Malta No.1 Juno SSE, but thy will also be the target of a glut of Sports Prototype rivals, not lead of all their 2015 arch rivals , Johannesburg brothers Duncan and Graham Vos in their similar Ecurie Zoo machine.
Two more Junos – the Weltevreden Estate SS3 in Andre Bezuidenhout, Simon Murray and Peter Van der Spuy’s hands and Colin Plit’s Tricera Investments machine and the Nick Adcock AidCall24 Rico Barlow Racing Ligier JS49 will be looking for a little better luck in Welkom, but a fleet of new prototype rivals will make it that much more interesting up front…
Principal among those will be Durban duo Franco Scribante who has teamed up with former SA Drivers Champion Tony Martin who returns to the cockpit of a Chevron for the first time in 40 years in the Scribante Group B26 V8 that showed race winning pace in recent sprint races.
No less than four Shelby Can Ams will be lining up with Fantastic Racing fielding a pair of Nissan V6 powered cars for Michael Jensen and Mark Lauth and class champion Mike Verrier and Wayne Jardine racing against the similar Revolution Racing car of Doug MacDonald and lady driver Elna Croeser; and Stuart Mac, Graham Savage and Ian Smith in a 2-litre turbo version.
Another intriguing entry is James Forbes and Dean Venter’s turbocharged 1300cc Ipcoweb ADR MCE3, Mathew Nash’s eponymous PB15 and PE trio Kelvin Reynolds, Bryan Heine and Hennie Crous HeineSport S2000.
There’s also an interesting lightweight battle between Cape trio Eric Salomon, Dave Sinclair and Gavin Gorman’s Lotus 23-like Elf S06, Lotus and Birkin 7 quartet Rod Schafer and Rob Mordaunt; Hennie Trollip Jimmy Dunn (Helderberg Propshafts), Tim and Jonathan Clamp, David Jermy and Mark Fitcher (Mixtec), Neil MacLeod and Andres Letnik and the mysterious entry of, ‘Oom Klippies’ and ‘Papnat Blondie’ aboard a Mercury Racing Locost Rocam…
GT class action should hinge around Charl Arangies Johan Hattingh’s Vaal Hydraulics Ferrari F360 Challenge dicing Fred de Kock, Gary Sherratt and Justin Mathis’ Hendok Porsche GT3 Cup. Steady Stefan Puschavez (MI Porsche911 RSR) and Steve Pickering, Mike Altona and Peter Zeelie in the Classic Motorsport Porsche are always contenders and Mike McLoughlin will be out to defend his class title in the Backdraft Racing Cobra Lexus, but all of the above must be wary of an fascinating Ford Mustang entry for Neville and Jason Loosemore sharing with former V8 champion Franco Di Matteo…
A true endurance race would not be an endurance race without a fleet of saloon cars to spice up the action and of premium interest there is Chad Wentzel’s arrival alongside Theo Van Vuuren and Bradley Scorer in the class champion Alfa Romeo South Africa GT. They will have quite a bit more to think about this weekend with Darren Winterboer, Ian Howden and Richard Robinson’s BMW 335i and Natalians Steve Truter and Wayne Lotter (BMW M3) in that tin-top mix.
And then the rats and mice – it is never prudent to discount the fleet of heated-up cars you’d normally expect in a rental fleet racing the smallest saloon car classes, but any of this talented lot is capable of pulling off a major upset – as they say, consistency can kill the cat!
Among them, Class champions duo Mike Schmidt and former Toyota race engineer Bruce Avern-Taplin from the KZN Midlands in the Frankies Soft Drinks Corolla will once again have its work cut out by a fleet of Volkswagens including Dewald Brummer and Bevan Williams (MAD Golf); Deon Crous, class champion Ronald van Rensburg and David Russell (Hendok Golf); Philip Croeser, Jacques Smith and Jody Robertson (Polo); Jozi dad Wouter and his matriculant son Zander Roos (Nathans Polo); and Jannie Van Rooyen, Adrian Dalton and Gerhard Henning (Extra Clothes Scirocco).
The Mopar Six Hours of the Free State starts at 1pm Saturday 27 February and finishes at dusk. There will also be two entertaining curtain raisers in the form of the Comsol Volkswagen Challenge and an Interprovincial Sports Car round to make for a most entertaining Welkom race day.