The WesBank V8 Supercar championship got off to a sedate start at the opening round of the WesBank Super Series at Kyalami on Saturday.

Normal service was resumed when reigning champion Brandon Auby won the Super GT category opening race in the SKF/ELT/Q8 Oils Ford Falcon.

The teenager led home brother Jimmy, in a similar car with the siblings chased all the way by a rejuvenated Terry Wilford in the Fuchs Ford Falcon.

Wilford did his best to close down the Aubys but was never close enough to apply the sort of pressure that leads to mistakes. Steady drivers took Jaco Correia (Omega Spares Corvette) and veteran former champion Ben Morgenrood (BM Auto Jaguar) into the top five.

The usual reverse grid format came into play for race two and produced an interesting result. This time it was Danie Correia, in the second Omega Corvette, who came up with a dominant drive.

The Welkom-based Correia cruised home comfortably  ahead of Deon Auby, father of the Auby siblings, in the SKF/ELT/Q8 Oils Chev Lumina.  
Wilford again took the final podium position ahead of Jaco Correia and Brandon Auby to get the big bangers off to a solid if slightly muted start.

Former champion Roelf du Plessis (RJ Panelbeaters Jaguar) got off to a flyer in the GT Class. The colourful West Rand driver  took both wins ahead of reigning champion Des Gutzeit (Dezzi Mustang) and Darron Gudmanz in the Indigo Boats Corvette.

- A pair of former Formula Ford champions in Robert Wolk (Midas/Investchem FVW) and Jayde Kruger (Time Freight FVW) shared the wins in the Formula Violkswagen outing. Tasmin Pepper (PG Glass FVW) and Daniel Rowe (Southern Sun/Dixon Batteries FVW) shared third places with reigning champion Simon Moss (Southern Sun/Dixon Batteries) not having a happy day with a pair of non finishes.

The Formula VW cars ran alongside the Midas 1600 brigade with Mathew Merton taking both wins in the Matsam Mygale with a pair of composed performaces.

Podiums

Werner Scholtz (Scholtz Civils Mygale) and James Temple (GWM Mygale) took race one podiums, and Nicholas van Weely (Anglorand Van Diemen) and Steve Morris (Investchem Mygale) were second and third in race two.

- Former champion Lee Thompson (Ferodo VW Polo) was first across the line in both the Engen VW Cup heats, but competes in the Masters category and is not eligible to score points in a championship which has an age cap of 27.
The first race win went to Devin Robertson, in the Sparco/Big Boss Auto VW Polo, ahead of Capetonian Kosie Weyers (Xtreme Team VW Polo) and Kyle Barnes in the PG Glass entry.

Robertson was again on target with a polished drive in race two. This time he came in a head of Barnes and Bryan Morgan in the Great Soft VW Polo.