MOTORSPORT
South Africa fifth in Malaysia
South
Africa, with Adrian Zaugg at the wheel of Vulindlela, bounced back
from a disappointing qualifying to finish a fighting fifth after starting
Sunday’s feature race in the third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport
in 16th place.
Nissan wins championship
Duncan
Vos and Ralph Pitchford (Sasol Nissan Navara) won the RFS Magalies
400 in Gauteng this afternoon, securing for Vos his third national
off road championship and Nissan’s eighth in succession.
Damseaux wins in Namibia
Jean-Pierre
Damseaux and Andre Vermeulen (Team TOTAL Evolution Toyota RunX) scored
their second successive win in the Namibian Motor Sport Federation’s
TOTAL Tara Rally on Saturday.
DRAMA AT FINAL WESBANK SUPER SERIES MEETING
A
string of South African championships were settled in dramatic circumstances
at the final round of the WesBank Super Series at the Killarney circuit
in Cape Town at the weekend.
South Africa in the points
Portugal
became the 17th nation to win an A1GP race when Filipe Albuquerque
took the honours in the feature race in round two of the fourth season
of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Chengdu International Circuit
on Sunday.
Kyalami sets the scene
The
Engen Volkswagen Cup series is now truly a powderkeg waiting for a
match. Going in to the penultimate race meeting for the season, which
took place at Kyalami in Johannesburg on Saturday, the top three drivers
were level on points.
WesBank V8 final to Groenewald
Three-times
WesBank V8 Champion, Hennie Groenewald (Team Timken Holden), confirmed
his position as the top saloon car driver in South Africa with a pair
of wins on wet and dry roads in the WesBank V8 races at Kyalami on
Saturday. His 2008 score sheet reads 14 wins in 20 races and a total
of 45 wins in his WesBank V8 career.read more...
To the wire
Both of this year’s premier Bridgestone South African Production Car Championship fights will go all the way to the wire. That was the most important consequence of rounds 17 and 18 of the title chase at Kyalami on October 25.
BP Volkswagen team claims top three
BP
Volkswagen is celebrating an incredible year on the national rally
scene in South Africa. With the conclusion of the final event for 2008,
the team now hold the top three positions on the national championship
scoreboard.
NEW SPONSOR FOR MAGALIES 400
Based
at Tarlton International Raceway and run in the Magaliesburg area,
the Magalies 400 will be sponsored by Pretoria company Retirement Funds
Solutions (Pty) Ltd. The event replaces the Ford Carnival City 400
run on the East Rand since 2001.
Toyota Dealer 400
Veteran
former South African champion Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr scored a
hat-trick of wins this season and gave Nissan their sixth successive
win on the Toyota Dealer 400.
Treacherous weather conditions
France (Loic Duval) and Malaysia (Fairuz Fauzy) emerged from the opening round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in the joint lead after two incident-packed races that were dominated by wet and treacherous conditions.
Mortimer tames Aldo Scribante
The Pepper racing boys had a bit of an up and down in the first part of the week end that saw Mathew Hodges (PG Glass Polo) outwitting his stable mates and headed the top of the sessions initially.
New innovations for Toyota Dealer 400
The Toyota Dealer 400 on October 10 and 11, the penultimate round of the Absa Off Road Championship, will be more spectator friendly than ever before with new innovations that are expected to please both competitors and off road enthusiasts...
New national rally champions
THE BP Volkswagen pair of Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries are the newly-crowned champions of the South African national rally scene. Fekken and Arries claimed this honour at the Swartland Rally at the wekend, penultimate round of the 2008 championship...
a1 shake-down test
A1 Team South Africa had the distinction of being the first team to complete a timed lap in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport pre-season test at Donington Park in England this week. The team was also the first to crash test the new car when 21-year-old Adrian Zaugg spun the distinctively-liveried Vulindlela in wet conditions on Thursday morning and hit a safety barrier.
two in a row
Veteran Former South African champion Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr made it two wins in a row with a narrow victory on the Limpopo 400, round six of the Absa Off Road Championship, at the weekend.
Limpopo challenge for Century Racing
The next challenge for the Century Property Developments Racing team is the Limpopo 400, round six of the Absa Off Road Car Championship, which takes place in the Polokwane area on Friday and Saturday (September 12 and 13).
A punishing event
The Engen Volkswagen Cup national racing series delivered an overdose of motorsport action at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on Saturday. There was a flurry of paperwork after the racing as drivers filled in incident reports.
Robust Racing
Unexpected winners and ultra-close, robust action typified rounds 15 and 16 of the 2008 Bridgestone South African Production Car championship at the Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday (September 6). The day’s events, which formed part of the WesBank Super Series’ second visit this season to the Pretoria venue, left the two main Production Car title chases unresolved.
Up and away
October will see the 33rd running of the Castrol Winterberg Enduro which takes place in the spectacular hills and valley’s near Hankey in the Eastern Cape.
A1GP car impresses at Silverstone
London, Great Britain – The new A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars were in testing action again over three days last week - on UK soil for the first time at Silverstone International Circuit in Northamptonshire. The new black A1GP liveried machine made its debut running alongside the yellow test car as the first real comparisons could be seen on a circuit where the previous A1GP cars had clocked up extensive testing miles.
Tough route for Limpopo 400
What is expected to be a huge field of around 100 vehicles will have a tough time of it on the Limpopo 400, round six of the Absa Off Road Championship, on September 12 and 13.
TRANSSYBERIA RALLYE 2008
Two women in a Suzuki Grand Vitara recently became the first all-female team to cross the finish line of the gruelling 7 200 km 2008 Transsyberia Rallye. And piloting the Grand Vitara was a South African paramedic with no motor sport experience...
2008 CASTROL MG INDABA
Classic car enthusiasts, and those with an affinity for British motoring at its best, are set to be enthralled when the Castrol I-Bhayi International MG Indaba takes centre stage in Port Elizabeth between 4 and 8 September 2008.
A1GP CAR PASSES CRASH TEST
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has always prided itself in the fact that its cars are some of the safest on the world’s race tracks. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the season four A1GP Powered by Ferrari car has undergone and passed some of the most stringent crash tests possible.
FEKKEN LIGHTS UP
One second of your life is a fleeting moment, an instant of time that passes without notice for the vast majority of the population. Unless that is, your name is Hergen Fekken and you drive a BP Volkswagen S2000 Polo.
NEW A1 GP RULES ADD EXITEMENT
The pressure will be even greater for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport national teams when they go to Mugello, Italy for the start of season four in September. An extra mandatory pit stop is among the changes to the series’ Sporting Regulations planned to make the racing even more exciting with the extra stop having to be taken in the A1GP Sprint Race between laps four and eight.
MIGHTY MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE
The Osram Rally, round six of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, returns to the awesome mountain roads in the Barkly East area of the Eastern Cape on August 15 and 16.† For Team Total and all the other competitors, it poses perhaps the toughest challenge of the eight-round championship.
POULTER STRIKES GOLD
Leeroy Poulter (Sasol Nissan 350Z) got his championship aspirations back on track with a win and a fourth in Saturday’s two races at Phakisa Freeway in the seventh round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship. With maximum points scored for being fastest in Friday’s qualifying, the 2006 national champion secured his first win of the season from pole position in the rolling start race one.
SOUTH AFRICAN ADVENTURERS BID FOR A PLACE
More than 120 South Africans will be competing in a series of regional challenges to see who will make it through the gruelling two days of the opening round of the Land Rover G4 Challenge – that will ultimately see teams competing in the International Selections early next year with hopes of a place in the finals in Mongolia.
TEAM SUBARU IS SET TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN THIER GRIP
Team Subaru is set to further strengthen their grip on the Production Car rally championship when the 6th round of the Sasol-backed series, the Osram Rally, gets underway in Barkly East on August 15. With three wins from the five rounds so far, Subaru teams are well placed at the head of the points table, holding a solid 1st and 2nd with three rounds remaining.
CASTROL GIVES YOUNG DRAG RACER THE EDGE
Tanzi McGeer (17) considered giving up on her life’s passion, drag racing, when Castrol came to her rescue with a sponsorship of R10 000, branded clothing and several bottles of her favourite motor oil, Castrol Edge.
SUN CITY 400
Hannes Grobler powered his Sasol Nissan Navara to a relatively comfortable win at the Sun City 400 – round five of the 2008 Absa Off-Road Championship – to bring him within striking distance of team mate Duncan Vos in the Production Vehicle championship log and Ford’s Neil Woolridge, who finished the race in second place...
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
The latest in a long line of export off road racing Nissan Navaras, built in South Africa by Nissan Motorsport in Midrand and enjoying success in competition around the world, is on its way to its new owner in Russia...