Marx pipped on the post by Loureiro for BMW Club Racing Series championship

A championship upset, a new overall winner and more than 40 cars on the grid.

Those are the things enthusiasts will remember about Saturday’s season finale of the 2018 Bridgestone BMW Club Racing Series championship at Kyalami.

Going to Kyalami, Antonie Marx (BMW E46 M3), Paulo Loureiro (BMW E36 M3 GTS) and Alan Hilligenn (BMW E36 328i) were all still in the running to take the overall title.

However, their efforts were slightly overshadowed by Elwyn Steenkamp, who drove his BMW E46 M3 brilliantly to win both of the day’s races overall.

His two closest adversaries, Lorenzo Gualtieri (BMW E36 M3) and quickest lap-setter Kashen Naicker (BMW E90 335i) both dropped out of contention due to technical maladies.

The title fight suffered a casualty, too, when Marx retired after his car blew its engine during a practice session. That left Loureiro and Hilligenn to battle it out for the championship.

Loureiro took the Class B victory, with Hilligenn second in Class D. Both took their classes in race two, with Loureiro’s results seeing him emerge as the year’s overall champion.

Marx had already secured the Class C title with David Coetzee (BMW E36 328i Turbo) taking the Class T title this year.

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