The SAGT National Championship may have been decided in favour of Silvio Scribante but the SAGT Team’s Championship is still up for grabs as is the ProAm class title. Add in two South African guest star drivers who have made it big in International GT racing and the debut of two new cars and you have the makings of a cracker season finale at the Cape Motorsport Festival as the country’s fastest racing cars battle for honours over two one-hour races.
Scuderia Scribante is a whisker away from locking out the Team’s title and just need a top six finish in round 11 to make it official. With a record of four victories and five podium finishes from ten rounds, the younger Scribante should start the final races as a favourite to win.
Adding extra spice to proceedings, Scuderia Scribante have drafted in Jordan Pepperwho has vast experience of the Huracan having won the Fanatec GT World Challenge America series last year. Pepper will share driving duties in Silvio’s Cemza Cement Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in one race and switch to Aldo Scribante’s Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for the second race.
Pepper will also be using his international experience in assisting the team with development work to unlock further potential from their cars ahead of the 2023 season.
Not to be outdone, Stuart White will race the Into Africa Mining/Africa Race Together Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and could be a thorn in the side of the Scribante brothers as he is battle-hardened after a tough European campaign in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe series where he ended third in the Silver Class standings.
During a recent shakedown, White posted a time of 58.3 seconds around Zwartkops Raceway – on his installation lap!
The biggest news in the run-up to the season finale is the debut of Xolile Letlaka’s fresh-off-the-plane Into Africa Mining/Africa Race Together Aston Martin Vantage GT3. South Africa’s first Black motorsport promotor has raced his Lamborghini and McLaren this year so is race-ready as he brings the famous British marque to the fastest racing series in the country.
Multiple SA Champion Michael Stephen will debut Izak Spies’ new Ultimate Outlaws/Emerald Graphix Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2; Stephen has arguably more experience around Killarney than any other driver given his extensive and lengthy career. Other teams racing Ingolstadt’s finest have demonstrated its competitiveness putting Stephen under pressure to repeat his victory at his home track in Gqeberha earlier this year as he aims for third in the overall and Pro Class Championship.
SAES co-owner Izak Spies will make his debut in the championship behind the wheel of his Ultimate Outlaws McLaren MP-4. Stephen repeatedly demonstrated the aging McLaren’s competitiveness during the season although Spies may require a few practice sessions to shake off the rust.
Ferrari will be represented by Marcel Angel, third on the points log with his long-time friend Jason Ibbotson fourth in the standings. The Autohaus Angel team heads the Pro-Am class, where Angel leads Ibbotson by one point.
In a strange twist of fate during the season, Angel missed the first round where Ibbotson finished in fifth place. When Ibbotson missed the East London round, Angel ended fourth and that one point difference means Ibbotson cannot win the ProAm class as they are sharing the same car.
The Autohaus Angel team will not have things their own way as Henk Lategan, the blisteringly quick double SA Rally Raid Champion and Dakar stage winner will take his Dad’s BBR Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car into battle. Lategan proved his mettle on the black stuff by pedaling the Porsche to two second places in the SA Endurance Series earlier this year.
Sun Moodley has wrapped up the AM Class Championship having brought the rumbling Mercedes-AMG GT3 into play from round two onwards. The Bigfoot Express Freight owner was joined by his long-time friend Andrew Culbert in a second Bigfoot-backed Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a long absence from the sport.
The Merc pair won’t have things their own way as Mo Mia has dusted off his Toys-R-Us Porsche 911 GT3 and could snatch second place in the class title race from Culbert as they are just four points apart.
Rounding out the SAGT grid is teenage sensation Kwanda Mokoena in his Amandla Coal/MJR Audi R8 GT4 who could pinch second place in the AM standings at the final hurdle sitting just five points adrift of Culbert and one behind Mia.
The Cape Motorsport Festival SAGT action gets underway with six hours of open practice on Thursday followed by three official practice sessions on Friday. The all-important qualifying session takes place on Friday at 14h35 with the first one-hour race starting 18h20, racing into the sunset. With clear weather, the orange sky will form a fitting golden backdrop to an eventful and exciting season of SAGT racing.
Saturday sees the 12th and final SAGT race of the season start at 09:40.
Champion Scribante? Veteran Stephen? White or Pepper? Or a new winner…
Find out by purchasing tickets at https://bit.ly/SummerMotorsportFestival
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