GT National Series thrills the Aldo Scribante faithful

The Aldo Scribante circuit hosted a sports car racing extravaganza last weekend, with one of the country’s two national category titles clinched.

Local hero, Silvio Scribante, overcame a broken clutch, starting twice from the back of the grid after changing cars and claimed a win in race three to seal the South African GT National Championship in his Cemza Cement Lamborghini Huracan.

The local ace was forced to jump into his father’s Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan for round eight of the championship, run in darkness on Friday night, after his clutch failed as he left the pits for the formation lap. He sliced through the pack to take a hard-fought fourth place finish in a car he had never sat in before.

Charl Arangies/Arnold Neveling (Pagid Audi R8 LMS) won the race ahead of championship hopeful Dayne Angel (Angel Autohaus Ferrari 488) and Aldo Scribante (Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan).

Michael Stephen (Ultimate Outlaws McLaren 650 S) was in the thick of the action when he was pitched into the tyre wall at over 180 km/h when a wheel worked loose, bringing out the safety car.

Round 9 saw Silvio Scribante once again at the back of the grid in his repaired car. He fought hard to get into second place behind a dominant Stephen, with Neveling close behind in third.

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With two laps to go, Angel ran out of fuel and grounded to a halt bringing out the yellow flags. Stephen braked hard and was passed by Silvio and Neveling, only for post-race penalties to give the win back to the McLaren driver.

Scribante started round ten from pole and surged into an immediate lead. After the pitstop strategies had played out, he was stuck in third behind Arangies with Angel close behind in third.

In the dying moments of the race, Arangies was boxed in behind a backmarker, ironically Celso Scribante, and Silvio seized the inside line and swept into the lead. Arangies followed home in second with Angel in third.

Round five of the South African Endurance Championship was dominated by Michael Stephen/Paul Hill (Kalex Aston Martin Vantage), taking a four lap victory over Hein Lategan/Verissimo Tavares (BBR Porsche 911 GT3).

Championship leader Kwanda Mokoena/Tschops Sipuka (Amandla Coal Audi R8) rounded out the podium.

The Pesty Backdraft of Barend/Harm Pretorius ended fourth and took class E honours. The two favourites, Nick Adcock/Michael Jensen/Mikaeel Pitamber (Aidcall Ligier Honda JS53 Evo) hit trouble just 12 laps in, as did the similar Auto Investments Ligier JS53 of Riaan Botma/Jeffrey Kruger.

After four hours of work, the Aidcall Ligier was repaired and started the second three-hour race two laps late. Half an hour into the race, Pitamber took the lead which the trio held to the finish.

Sipuka/Mokoena overcame an early puncture to take second, followed by the Lategan/Tavares Porsche.

Steve Clark/Mike McLoughlin brought their Backdraft home in fourth. Mackie Adlem/Rudi Barnard took a debut class E victory in their Backdraft.