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At the Killarney 9-Hour in Cape Town, which was a part of the Cape Motorsport Festival and featured the final two rounds of the SAGT National Championship and a nine-artist music concert as the Southern African Endurance Series came to a dramatic and exciting conclusion, Kwanda Mokena drove flawlessly to become the youngest-ever SA Endurance Champion.
Hein Lategan, the third title challenger, finished third in the race in his Black Bull Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Co-drivers Henk Lategan and Verissimo Tavares gave it their all, but their nearly-perfect Porsche finished four laps behind the Lamborghini.
Mo Mia/Lee Thompson gave an outstanding performance to finish fourth overall (Toys-R-Us Porsche 911 GT3). The team put in a tremendous amount of work after the vehicle's left front corner was severely damaged in a pitlane accident during Friday night's practice session; when replacements were ordered, they arrived at 07:30, and the car was prepared for the race by 9am.
Despite having a damaged control arm, the Bucketlist Racing BMW 340i driven by Heinz Bose, Christopher, and Anthony Pretorius finished fifth overall. The team had to make repairs while the race was still going on.
Unexpected class D winners and sixth overall were Danie van Niekerk and Roberto/David Franco (Graphix Supply World Volkswagen Polo SupaCup). Right-rear wheel bearing repair by Van Niekerk cost the team 30 minutes in the pits. In the last 30 minutes of the race, Van Niekerk and Polo, driven by Johan de Bruyn, got into a significant altercation.
The Gazoo Racing Toyota Yaris GR media car driven by Ashley Oldfield, Mark Jones, Thomas Falkiner, and Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger won the Index of Performance. Toyota executives Leon Theron, Anand Pather, Mario de Sousa, and journalist Sean Nurse then finished second in their sister Yaris GR. The vehicles performed flawlessly, just needing a brake pad change just before 7 o'clock, and thus took eighth and eleventh place overall.
The Backdraft-Lexus driven by Mark Owens, Trevor Graham, and Richard van Heerde won class E after losing a fuel pump an hour into the race and losing a two-lap lead. By outpacing the Team Qhubani Backdraft of Fikile Holomisa, Baphumze Rubuluza, and Xolela Njumbunxa by 11 seconds, they battled valiantly to overcome their 15-lap deficit. It is even the more impressive that the Qhubani squad finished tenth overall because they spent the second half of the race locked in fifth gear.
The first round of the new season in 2023 will begin in March after preseason testing in February.
This is a copy of photos and a summary of an article, the originals can be found here.
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