RACE CENTRE GTs from Fuji & Indy, Superbikes & karting break a quiet race weekend
The race weekend past was a relatively quiet one with little world and no South African championship racing to speak of. Still there was enough action to keep fans entertained on the Auto Race Centre powered by Toyota Gazoo Racing.
ALL JAPAN GT: TOYOTA DOMINATES AT HOME
Starting at Fuji, former F1 racer Heikki Kovalainen and Yuichi Nakayama’s SARD Supra delivered Toyota’s first win of this year’s All-Japan Super GT season. They beat Kazuya Oshima and Sho Tsuboi’s similar Cerumo Celica, who also moved into the points lead.
Kovalainen moved up to second in first part of the race, before good teamwork and Nakayama’s strong pace after the stop saw the SARD car onto the lead. Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi’s Honda was third, while Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa made it three Toyotas in the top four at their home track.
ICGT: BMW DOMINATE, INDY 8 HOUR TOUGH ON PEPPER
BMW dominated Sunday’s ICGT Indianapolis 8 Hour after Jordan Pepper’s Bentley was taken out of the lead. That left the way open for Walkenhorst’s BMW M6s to storm to a one-two finish with the Catsburg, De Phillippi and Farfus machine leading team-mates Pittard, Tomczyk and Yelloly home. It was the team’s second victory in a week following its Nürburgring 24 success.
Championship leader Pepper was leading comfortably. But the Bentley he shared with Jules Gounon and Maxime Soulet was eliminated by a wayward backmarker. The KPax team scrambled .to repair the stricken car. The trio then fought back to tenth to retain a slender championship lead. They now race the October Spa 24 Hour and then the December Kyalami 9 Hour.
WORLD SSP: ODENDAAL’s BEST IN WORST CONDITIONS
South African rider Steven Odendaal delivered his best World Supersport result of the season at a sodden Magny Cours in France. He rode his Yamaha to a fine fourth on Sunday. Odendaal overcame a difficult qualifying on a drying track and a trying first race.
Scott Redding meanwhile kept the World Superbike title open with a win for Ducati in Sunday’s French finale. Jonathan Rea needed a podium to wrap it up for Kawasaki . He could only manage fourth behind Loris Baz on a Yamaha and Ducati rider Chaz Davies.
ROTAX MAX: REGIONAL KARING THRILLS CAPE, GAUTENG
Saturday saw two crucial Rotax Max Karting Regional Karting Championship rounds going down at both Zwartkops in Pretoria and Killarney in Cape Town. Partially also in preparation for the SA National Finals at the Cape circuit in two weeks time. There was a fair share of domination as well as a few surprises each end as the Gauteng drivers fought it out over four rounds each class in the Northern Regions races. And it was much the same in the Cape the the three-heat Province meeting. Click here to read the full Motorsport Media report .
It WAS a quiet weekend
So it was a quiet weekend on the Auto Race Centre powered by Toyota Gazoo Racing. This coming week will however be back to the regular overdose as motorsport around the world catches up from lockdown. Go to theauto.page/sport to keep up with all the latest from F1, Moto GP, DTM, SA and World rally action and more on Race Centre.