Former South African champion Grant van Schalkwyk, in the Hi-Q Jaguar,
got his quest to regain the WesBank V8 Supercar championship off to
the best possible start. Van Schalkwyk, however, wasn’t the happiest
man around Kyalami.
After romping home ahead of reigning champion Hennie Groenewald (Caltex
Havoline Jaguar) and Jimmy Auby (Bosal Jaguar) in race one, van
Schalkwyk wasn’t happy with an inverted grid for race two. This meant
van Schalkwyk would start in 13th place and he wasn’t optimistic about
his chances of a second win.
As it was his fears were ill founded. Rapid progress through the field
saw van Schalkwyk into the lead three laps from the end, with a late
spin dropping Jaco Correia (Omega Spares Chev Corvette) out of
contention when he had a firm hold on second place.
Correia’s rush of blood lifted Franco di Matteo (Deltec Jaguar) into
second place with Groenewald also working his way through the field to
finish third. Gordon Connolly (Dezzi/Cowan Signs Jaguar) and Jade
Gutzeit (Dezzi/Cowan Signs Mustang) took advantage of the inverted
grid to complete the top five.
WesBank V8 Supercars – Race 1: 1 G van Schalkwyk
(Jaguar); 2 H Groenewald (Jaguar); 3 J Auby (Jaguar); 4 Z Pearce
(Jaguar); 5 L Wilford (Ford Mustang). Race 2: 1 G van Schalkwyk
(Jaguar); 2 F di Matteo (Jaguar); 3 H Groenewald (Jaguar); 4 G
Connolly (Jaguar); 5 J Gutzeit (Ford Mustang).
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