Ferrari, Binders, Sebring & Young Deliver a Brilliant Weekend of Doubles
Toyota Gazoo Racing Week 11 will be remembered as a couple of days of memorable doubles in the motorsport world. In a busy weekend overseas, the 2022 Formula 1 season could not have started better. Especially for the tifosi following Ferrari’s 46-race win drought.
FERRARI IS BACK!
Charles Leclerc set that right has he opened a new F1 era. He led a dominant Ferrari 1-2 over teammate Carlos Sainz in the Bahrain opener. Leclerc saw Max Verstappen off in a thrilling race-long battle before Red Bull suffered a late double disaster. Both of its cars expired from podium positions in the dying stages. That left struggling Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell third and fourth. From a delighted Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and comeback king, Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo.
Moving over to MotoGP. Miguel Oliveira stormed to victory in a rain affected Indonesian Grand Prix. World champion Fabio Quartararo fought Ducati duo Johann Zarco and Jack Miller off for second. But it was double delight for the South African Binder brothers. Brad fought off a suspension issue and his hard charging brother for 8th to retain second in the championship chase. Rider of the day Darryn came from the back to a brilliant 10th. Local her Somkiat Chantra’s Honda won Moto2 and Dennis Foggia dominated Moto3.
Moving to the US and Sebring’s sportscar double header. Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere’s Alpine won a troubled WEC 10 Hour on Saturday. They held Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa’s Gazoo Toyota, and the Pla-Dumas-Briscoe’s Glickenhaus off. Paul di Resta, Oliver Jarvis and Josh Pierson’s ORECA won LMP2, where SA lad Jonathan Aberdein’s similar car was 8th. Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre Porsche beat Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy’s Corvette to the GTE PRO win. By under a second.
CADILLAC’S SEBRING SWEEP
And on Sunday, Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani led Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Loic Duval, and Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez and Mike Conway. To a Cadillac clean sweep in the IMSA Sebring 12 Hour. Ben Keating, Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker’s ORECA won LMP2. Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nick Catsburg’s Corvette beat Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Antonio Fuoco’s Ferrari to GTD honours. South African lad Jordan Pepper ended fifth in GTD in a McLaren.
Srticking with the ‘States, William Byron’s Chevy survived a wild, record pace race to take the Atlanta NASCAR Cup win. He beat Ross Chastain’s similar car and Kurt Busch in a Toyota. And in Indycars, Josef Newgarden beat Scott McLaughlin by 0.06 seconds, with Marcus Ericsson third. In other single seater action back in Bahrain, Richard Verschoor and Theo Pourchaire shared out the FIA Formula 2 wins. And Isack Hadjar and Victor Martins won in F3.
Back at home, Sherco’s Wade Young did the double at a brutal SA Enduro National at Harding in KZN. He beat Blake Gutzeit’s KTM and Brett Swanepoel on a Husqvarna in Saturday’s Enduro. Dylan Jones won E1, Luke Walker J1, James Moore J2 and Brandon Clarke J3. Rory Gower took Seniors and Greg Nairn Masters. Young then took Sunday’s Extreme National from Travis Teasdale’s GasGas and Swanepoel. Cayden Purchase took E1, Kevin Leigh J1, Moore J2 and David Clark J3. Ryan Spall won Seniors and Gideon Malherbe Masters.
QUIET A BUSY DAY IN SA RACING
And finally, Jason Coetzee took KZ3 honours over Joshua Coertze and Tate Bishop at Killarney’s SA Rok karting opener. KC Ensor-Smith beat Taya van der Laan and Ntiyiso Mabunda to the OKJ win. In the junior classes, Ethan Lennon won a great Mini Rok dice over William Marshall and under-10 winner Mattao Mason. Jack Moore took Kid Rok from Aaron and Maddox Mason. And Noah Cronje took Bambino from Diego Antunes and Zac Boshoff.
