The wet weather that Gauteng experienced over the weekend made for a dramatic day's racing when the Pro Tour circus embarked on Kyalami on Saturday 16 April. Most of the day's 14 races were held in teeming rain, which led to extremely slippery track conditions.
ALTECH GT CHALLENGE:
Thus tail happy sports cars were the order of the day in the first Altech GT Challenge race, in which a series of spins on the opening lap affected the normal front runners like Nic Chapman (Ferrari 430), Sun Moodley (Porsche), Nicky Dicks (Ferrari 430) and Charl Arangies (Noble).
Toby Venter then drove his works Porsche GT2R to the overall and Unlimited Class victory. Second overall, winning the GTC1 class, was the Lotus Elise of Pieter Joubert, leading home Sam Hammond in his San Marco Tiles Porsche GT3.
KTM X-Bow driver Greg Parton won the GTC2 class from the BMW M3 of Tato Carello, while Johan Engelbrecht (Porsche GT3) took the GTC3 category from Kris Budnik (BMW M3).
Venter took another easy victory in race two, with Joubert keeping him within sight throughout the six laps.
Greg Parton drove the KTM X-Bow brilliantly to finish third overall - the car's best place in a local race thus far.
Parton also won the GTC2 class from Tato Carello, with Johan Engelbrecht and Kris Budnik again taking the top places in Class GTC3.
SHELBY CAN AM:
The weather also added much spectacle to the opening Shelby CanAm race, when pole man Rui Campos spun his Shelby while leading at the end of the first lap.
He dropped back to seventh place, but with sheer determination and aided by some other drivers spinning out, Campos went back into the lead on the penultimate lap, winning from David Trollip and Brian Algar.
Campos took race two as well, beating off a tight challenge from Trollip and Hanno Pengilly.
FORMULA VEE:
Paul Venter drove superbly in the wet to win the first race by a 20-second margin. Behind him youngsters Michael Taylor and Zahir fought mightily to finish ahead of veteran Alan Holm.
Race two, held on a drying circuit, saw the Safety Car deployed when the Rhema 2 of Miles Stewart spun into the gravel trap at the bottom of the Mineshaft. After the restart, Taylor grabbed the lead on the final lap and finished ahead of Venter, Johan Gouws and Zahir Essa.
KAWASAKI MASTERS:
The opening Red Square Kawasaki Masters race, held on a streaming wet track, saw a huge dice between title points leader Gavin Lightfoot and Stewart MacLeod.
Lightfoot finally led over the finish line, just two seconds ahead of MacLeod, with Simon Bezuidenhout and Joe Shearer more than ten seconds further adrift.
Lightfoot led the second race from lights to flag, while MacLeod, making a rare mistake, dropped his Kawasaki in the Bowl. Second place went to Simon Bezuidenhout, leading in Royden Bennett and Brian Bontekoning.
GOLDWAGEN CHALLENGE:
Wayne Masters (Golf 4) won Class A overall, ahead of The Golf 1s of George Economides and Andy Gossman. The Class B honours went to Stuart Mack (Golf 1) from Quentin Thompson (Golf 1) and Andrea Bate, with Class C taken by Andre Needham (Golf), ahead of Keagan Blanckensee (Golf). Justin Taylor (Jetta) took Class D from Steve Hurley (Polo).
PORSCHE CLUB CHALLENGE:
Rui Campos (911 RSR) won the single Porsche Club Invitational scratch race from Mark Harvey (924) and Dawie Theron (911), while overall honours in the handicap based Altech Porsche Club Challenge went to Harvey, who led home the 911s of Andrie Bester and Evan de Jager.
The next round of the 2011 Pro Tour will take place at the Western Cape Killarney circuit on Saturday, 14 May.