After a clean sweep of pole position, two race wins and the fastest race lap time at the last event, Stuart White (Into Africa Racing / Sparco / Wurth SA Lamborghini Huracan) repeated the feat at the fourth round of the 2024 Extreme SuperCars Driven by Dunlop championship held at Zwartkops Raceway on 17 & 18 May.
As he did at Kyalami last time out, White set the pace in Friday’s practice sessions before taking pole position in Saturday morning’s qualifying session. Jonathan du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO), the quickest of the GT3 class cars on Friday, qualified alongside White on the front row. Du Toit’s closest rival in the GT3 class, Arnold Neveling, headed the second row of the grid in his Bobcat powered by Goscor Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO. Defending champion Charl Arangies missed the opening three rounds of the season. He recovered from knee surgery but returned to track action at Zwartkops and claimed fourth place on the grid in his Stradale Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3. Xolile Letlaka (Into Africa Racing / Sparco / Wurth SA Lamborghini Huracan) was next up in fifth place, just ahead of Gianni Giannoccaro (Stradale Motorsport / BISC Transport Nismo GTR GT3). Nicky Dicks (Curvent Porsche GT3 Cup), Marius Jackson (MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS), Mark du Toit Mark du Toit (Trans Africa Racing / Stradale Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo) and Anthony Blunden, out in the G&H Transport Audi R8 GT4 LMS instead of his usual Porsche, rounded out the top ten.
White dominated the opening heat, pulling away from the rest of the pack to take the win by almost 16 seconds. The race for the other podium positions was far closer, with Jonathan du Toit leading the way from Arangies. Neveling suffered a fuelling problem early in the race, necessitating visiting the pits. While his crew were able to solve the problem and he rejoined the race, any thoughts of challenging du Toit for the GT3 win were gone. He did manage to recover to ninth place, ahead of Blunden. Behind Arangies, Letlaka brought his Lambo home in fifth, with Giannoccaro a bit further adrift in sixth. Jackson got the better of Dicks to end in seventh, while Mark du Toit had to settle for eighth.
White again disappeared up the road in the second heat, leaving Jonathan du Toit and Neveling to fight for second place after contact between Arangies and Letlaka dropped the latter to the back of the field and allowed Giannoccaro to get past Arangies. Jonathan du Toit had enough in hand to eke out a slight gap over Neveling at the flag, claiming another second place and, with it, the GT3 class win. Arangies got past Giannoccaro to claim fourth, while Mark du Toit improved to sixth. After his early misfortune, Letlaka recovered to finish seventh ahead of Jackson. Dicks and Blunden completed the top ten.
The two heat times are combined to give the day’s overall standings. There, White claimed Class A+ from Letlaka and Jackson. Jonathan du Toit was comfortably ahead of Arangies and Giannoccaro in the GT3 class. Mark du Toit won Class A, Dicks took Class B, and Blunden won Class C.
The next outing for the Extreme SuperCars driven by Dunlop competitors is on 28 & 29 June, when they make their way to Aldo Scribante Racetrack in Gqeberha for the fifth round of their 2024 championship.
Issued by Brandsponential on behalf of Extreme SuperCars Driven by Dunlop
Photography by: Jason Hanslo and Willie Pretorius
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