A third place, followed by two hard-fought wins, gave Harry Arangies (Stradale Motorsport Nissan 350Z) overall victory at the sixth round of the 2019 Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons championship held at the Aldo Scribante Racetrack in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 21 September. George Economides (Wealth Avenue BMW) and Kalyn Miller (Midas Kia Pride) joined Arangies on the podium.
It was local man Gerhard Oosthuysen (BMW) who topped the timesheets in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session to take pole position from Arangies and Economides with Wouter Roos (Nathan’s Motorsport Polo) in fourth. Wayne Masters (Performance Masters VW Polo) and Andre de Lange (Roofsure Audi A3) rounded out the top six on the grid. Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Civic) led the way in Class B while Mark Gregory (Creative Patterns VW Golf) topped Class E.
Oosthuysen was the early leader from pole position, but Economides soon took over at the front, going on to take a comfortable win. Questionable driving by Oosthuysen resulted in the chasing pack, led by Roos losing contact with Economides and only able to battle for the runners-up spot. Arangies, who was the big loser in the incident with Oosthuysen, fought his way back through the field to join Roos but could not find a way through and had to settle for third, just two-tenths of a second behind the Golf. Miller brought her Kia home in fourth, comfortably ahead of Phillip Meyer (LSC Group Porsche 924) who got the better of his battle with Kevin Miller (Auto Aircon Ford Focus). Scholtz claimed Class B from the Porsche 924s of Mark Ellis and Clive Smith. Gregory took Class E while Oosthuysen emerged on top of Class X with Riaan van Huyssteen (Igen VW Golf) and Chad Ten Doeschate (Audi A4) in second and third.
In Race 2, Economides was the early leader with Roos just off his back bumper. Kalyn Miller and Arangies were just a little further back, disputing third place. Arangies soon found a way past Miller and, when Roos dropped back after his Golf started overheating, inherited second. He then chased down Economides, taking the lead on the final lap. Economides had to settle for second ahead of Miller with Meyer in fourth. Kevin Miller held off Masters to take fifth. Scholtz again took Class B, this time from Smith with Ellis in third. Gregory led the way in Class E with Oosthuysen topping Class X from Kishoor Pitamber (MINI) and van Huyssteen.
With Roos not able to cure his overheating problems, the battle at the front of the third heat was again between Arangies and Economides. The pair opened a substantial gap over the chasing pack with Arangies crossing the line just over half a second ahead of the BMW. Economides was, however, penalized for breaking out of the lap time limit, incurring a 9-second penalty which dropped him to fourth. Masters, who had a race-long duel with Miller, inherited second with de Lange and Meyer rounding out the top six. Scholtz made it a clean sweep in Class B with Smith getting the better of Ellis to take second. Gregory took another Class E win, as did Oosthuysen in Class X. Pitamber and van Huyssteen followed Oosthuysen home.
In the overall standings, Arangies took Class A from Economides and Miller while Scholtz took Class B from Smith and Ellis. Three wins saw Gregory take Class E with Oosthuysen topping Class X from van Huyssteen and Pitamber.
The final round of the 2019 Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons championship takes place at Zwartkops Raceway, west of Pretoria, on Saturday, 9 November.