Franco di Matteo (Varta Batteries Jaguar)
shot from pole position into an immediate lead in Heat 1 of the
WesBank V8 Supercars at Aldo Scribante on Saturday to claim his
first win of the season in the Super GT Class. In the process, he
withstood relentless pressure from current champion Brandon Auby (Q8
Oils/SKF Ford Falcon) who finished runner up. Jimmy Auby in the
sister Q8 Oils/SKF car finished third with Ben Morgenrood (BM Auto
Ford Falcon) a fraction behind him in fourth. In the GT Class,
Queenstown's Patrick Seddon secured the Twizza Chev Lumina's first
win, in only his third attempt, with East London's Darron Gudmanz
(Country Range Corvette) crossing the line in second place, ahead of
Des Gutzeit (Dezzi/Cummins Mustang). Larry Wilford (Fuchs Titan Ford
Falcon) was fourth.
In Heat 2, the reverse grid saw Steve Herbst (Prei Instrumentation
Corvette) lead the pack on the first lap, before Larry Wilford took
over at the front. Deon Auby (Q8 Oils/SKF Chev Lumina) then passed
Wilford, and took a lead which he was not to lose. Jimmy Auby worked
his way through the field to make it an Auby Boyz Racing 1-2, with
Larry an excellent third and the GT Class winner. Terry Wilford
(Fuchs Titan Ford Falcon) placed fourth with Ben Morgenrood fifth.
Heat one winner Di Matteo finished a lowly sixth, after starting
from the back under the reverse grid format, while Brandon Auby did
not finish at all after retiring with drive shaft failure. Patrick
Seddon was next up in seventh place, second in the GT Class. Darron
Gudmanz and Des Gutzeit made contact on the pit straight towards the
end of the race, after which the former dropped to 8th place and the
latter retired.
The action now moves to the Phakisa Freeway for Round 4 of this
year's WesBank Super Series on the 4th of June.
Results:
WesBank V8 Supercars:
Race 1 – Super GT: 1 F di Matteo (Jaguar); 2 B Auby (Ford Falcon); 3
J Auby (Ford Falcon).
GT Class: 1 P Seddon (Lumina); 2 D Gudmanz (Corvette); 3 D Gutzeit
(Mustang).
Race 2 – Super GT: 1 D Auby (Lumina); 2 J Auby (Ford Falcon); 3 T
Wilford (Ford Falcon).
GT Class: 1 L Wilford (Ford Falcon); 2 P Seddon (Lumina); 3 D
Gudmanz (Corvette). |
|