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SA lines up World Six-Hour slot

Cape Town - An endurance race in the vein of the Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hour events is being mooted for Welkom’s Phakisa Raceway.

With South Africa’s rich motorsport history and no indication of proposed Formula 1 and World Rally championship legs being confirmed, Classic Car Events (a Motorsport SA promoter) has taken it upon itself to lobby for a World Endurance championship event.

WELCOME TO WELKOM


The campaign will kick off in September when Classic Car Events plans to host a six-hour endurance race outside of any current National or Regional championships. According to CCE, only one local circuit would be able to meet the requirements for an international endurance race: Phakisa Raceway in Welkom in the Free State was built in the late 1990's to host MotoGP events.

CCE has proposed a six-hour endurance race for Saloon, Sports and GT cars – to be called “The African Six-Hour” – on 23 February 2013. The race, its organiser has said, will use a section of the banked oval circuit to the entry of the back straight and will increase the circuit length to 4.4km.

ALL COMERS


The race will start at 14:00 and end at 20:00 on Saturday, 23 February. The timed practice session will be held until 18:00 on the Friday, qualifying will take place on the Saturday morning. The prize-giving ceremony will follow on the Sunday.

At least 50 cars are expected to enter the race to which all forms of closed-wheel circuit racing cars will be invited, whether in National, Regional or Club vehicles.

Trophies will be awarded for overall, class and team victories, with a separate trophy for Index of Performance. CCE said negotiations for sponsorship are under way.

The entry fee will be R2 000 per vehicle and, according to CCE, only 60 entries can be accommodated.
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