3-Hour: Local heros defend Killarney

RACE REPORT
What: African Endurance Round 4
Where: Killarney, Cape Town
When: Saturday June 6 2015

KILLARNEY, Cape Town - They led flag-to-flag but Cape Town's Francis Carruthers/Nick Adcock had a tough Killarney African Endurance 3-Hour in their Juno SS3 on Saturday (June 6). 

They finished four laps clear of Nicky Dicks/Fred de Kock’s Porsche 911 and Charl/Harry Aranges’ Ferrari, with the Porsche taking position and class by just a few seconds over the Ferrari.

TECHNICAL GREMLINS

Curruthers/Adcock’s leading sports-car rivals gradually fell by the wayside, with the likes of Colin Plit/Dawie Joubert’s Juno suffering a smoky demise, while Greg Mills/Andrea Bate's Pilbem slithered to a stop at the end of the Killarney pit straight. Trevor Frost/Franco di Matteo’s LMP2 suffered a drive-line failure; Mike Verrier/Mark Lauth’s Nissan retired as night fell and Josh Broome/Andre Bezuidenhout’s Radical’s strong run was foiled by troubles after dark.

That left the way open for Darryn Lobb to drive in to fourth overall and second Sports Car home in his Nissan, albeit 8 laps behind the winners and lap clear of the Sun Moodley/Andrew Culbert/Preyen Moodley Porsche 911 GT3. Next up was the leading saloon car home — Theo van Vuuren/Bradley Scorer/Martin Botha’s Alfa Romeo GT ran strongly and reliably throughout to take its second African Endurance tin-top win in three races.

ONLY 14 FINISHERS

Eric Salomon/John Amm overcame late issues to bring the beautiful Lotus 23-like Elf 506 home in seventh ahead of Graham/Tanya du Toit’s Porsche, while Deon Crous, Ronald van Rensburg and Robbie Benica’s VW Citi Golf ran like clockwork to end ninth and second in saloon car home.

Only 14 of the 27 starters finished the African Endurance Cape 2-hour just after 7pm and an hour after dark as winners Carruthers/Adcock became the first repeat winners in the 2015 African Endurance Series, backing up their Kyalami victory in May.

The duo will now go into Round 5, the Phakisa 3-Hour in Welkom at the end of August, as clear favourites.