After sharing the wins with Thomas Reib (Mobil 1 / Café 9 Automotive Chevrolet Lumina) at the opening two rounds of the 2024 season, defending Champion Julian Fameliaris (Lube-Net / Di Matteo Racing Chevrolet Corvette) had his best weekend of the season so far, taking every point on offer at Red Star Raceway at Round 3 on 10 and 11 May to move to the top of the championship.
Warren Lombard (PepBoys Automotive Ford Mustang) is developing a reputation as the Friday man. As he did in the first two rounds of the season, Lombard set the quickest time in the practice sessions, although Fameliaris gave an indication of what was to come by making a big step forward in Friday’s final session.
Qualifying took place in cool conditions early on Saturday morning, and it was Fameliaris who emerged on top nearly a second ahead of Reib. Despite his Friday heroics, Lombard could not put a similar lap together in the cooler conditions and had to settle for third in the GT class. Veteran Larry Wilford (Fuchs Lubricants Ford Mustang) led the way in the GT2 class from Auke Compaan (Hurricane Motorsport Ford Mustang) and Steve Herbst (Prei Instrumentation / PPG Coatings / QI Systems Chevrolet Corvette).
In the opening heat, Fameliaris led the pack away from pole position and was never seriously challenged on his way to a comfortable win. The action takes place behind him, with Reib and Lombard battling for the runner-up spot. In the early stages of the race, it looked like Reib was going to hold off Lombard’s Mustang, but just after half-distance, Lombard made his move to take second place. He was able to eke out a slight gap over Reib and claimed his best finish of the season.
Compaan grabbed the early lead in the GT2 class, and when Wilford had to retire the Mustang, Compaan was able to control things from the front. Luckily, he had built up a big enough lead that when his car slowed on the final lap, he had enough in hand to finish ahead of Herbst.
Fameliaris had more work to do in the reverse-grid second race, but an early mistake by Lombard allowed both Reib and Fameliaris through. While Fameliaris was able to pull away at the front, his advantage wasn’t as big as in the opening heat. Reib again had to hold off Lombard, which he looked like he was going to do until the final chicane when Lombard made the move that counted to take another second-place finish. Reib had to settle for third.
The damage that resulted in Compaan’s car slowing on the final lap of the first race wasn’t repairable in the gap between the races, which left Wilford and Herbst to fight it out for GT2 honours. Wilford’s quick early laps were good enough to reduce the chance of any challenge by Herbst, and he went on to take the GT2 win.
Two wins gave Fameliaris the overall win for the day ahead of Lombard and Reib. Consistency gave Herbst GT2 overall honours from Wilford and Compaan.
Nicole Jooste, African Group Lubricants’ Marketing Manager, enjoyed the day’s racing, which formed part of the 50-year celebration for Mobil 1. “A sweltering day at Red Star Raceway delivered a host of exciting developments on-track by the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars. Both races were hotly contested, providing top quality entertainment for the sizeable crowd in attendance.”
The Mobil 1 V8 Supercars’ next outing is on June 7 and 8, 2024, at Zwartkops Raceway.
Issued by Brandsponential on behalf of African Group Lubricants
Photography by: James Thomson
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