Jagger Robertson took the 2020 Liqui Moly South Africa INEX Legends Championship lead along with the Round 2 win at Zwartkops Raceway this past weekend (March 13-14).
Saturday morning’s grid-draw for Race 1 saw Justin Robertson drawing pole position with Richard van Heerde joining him on the front row. Johann van der Venter lined-up in third place ahead of Ian Upton.
Josef Kotze celebrated his first visit to Zwartkops Raceway by drawing fifth place alongside Charl Roux.
Championship leader, Gerhard Roux, lined up in seventh place alongside reigning champion Jagger Robertson. The latter would line up in a spare car following his engine failure in Round 1 with a unit still to be fitted.
Steven Levin made his first championship appearance since the 2019 season-opener and opted to start all three races from the back.
Image: Reynard Gelderblom
Early command
Justin Robertson took command of Race 1 early on while Upton made a superb start to become the early challenger. The opening lap also saw Jagger Robertson slicing his way through the field rapidly to move into third place. As the eight-lap race progressed, Upton and Jagger Robertson made up good ground to set up a threeway showdown to the flag.
The narrow victory went to Justin Robertson who held off an attempt from Upton around the outside of the last corner while closing the gap on Jagger Robertson who tried to get through on the inside. Further back, Gerhard Roux held of Charl Roux for fourth place with Van Heerde rounding out the top-six. Levin took an impressive seventh place on his return ahead of Van de Venter and Kotze.
READ: Gerhard Roux takes upper hand in Liqui Moly INEX Legends season opener
In Race 2, it was Jagger Robertson who took advantage of his pole-position start to take command of the race early on and claim his third victory of the season. Behind him, Justin Robertson had his mirrors full with Gerhard and Charl Roux with the trio finishing second, third and fourth, respectively. Following an earlier accident between the pair, while jostling for position in the leading group, Van Heerde and Upton completed the top-six ahead of Van de Venter. The second lap saw contact between Levin and Kotze, which eliminated them from the race.
Steven Levin. Image: Reynard Gelderblom
Another victory
Kotze made it into the spare car for Race 3 while Levin saw his day come to an early halt. It was Jagger Robertson who again made his way into the lead early on, but he faced fierce competition from Van Heerde. The battle between the pair also allowed Charl Roux to creep into contention. After the ten-lap race, it was Robertson who added another win to his tally with Van Heerde and Roux completing the podium.
Justin Robertson held off Upton to finish fourth while Gerhard Roux took sixth place further back, holding off Van de Venter. Kotze completed the field. Jagger Robertson took the Overall win for the day ahead of Justin Robertson and Charl Roux. Justin Robertson won the Master Class, followed by Charl Roux and Van der Heerde. Jagger Robertson and Josef Kotze were the sole competitors in the Professional and Semi-Professional Classes, respectively.
The third round of the 2020 Liqui Moly INEX Legends Championship, which was set for April 3-4 at Zwartkops Raceway, has been postponed following the decision of Motorsport South Africa to suspend all sanctioned events until after the Easter weekend. This decision came following the national address by President Cyril Ramaphosa regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa and is in line with measures implemented by the national government. Proposed calendar changes and the resumption of the season will be addressed following this period.
Justin Robertson. Image: Reynard Gelderblom