A podium finish in the opening heat, followed by a win in the second, gave Mark du Toit (Trans Africa Racing BMW Z4) the overall win in the final Car Care Clinic GT Sports & Saloons championship round of 2020, held at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday, 7 November. While du Toit took the honours on the day, Wouter Roos (Car Care Clinic VW Supa Polo) did enough at the previous round to make sure he was the first champion in the new category.
Roos led the way in the morning qualifying session, taking pole position from Bob Neill (Delmon Mining Ford Focus) with Stefan Snyders (Steton Investments Porsche 911 RSR) not far behind in third. Andre de Lange (Roofsure Ford Focus) just got the better of du Toit to take fourth. Johan van der Vyver (Devlaw Subaru WRX STI) ended the session in sixth with Richard de Roos (RDR Porsche RSR) and Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom Hyundai Getz) rounding out the top eight.
In the opening heat, Roos led the way until the final lap when an ambitious move at the top of the hill saw de Roos spin in front of the pack. Snyders had the clearest path though and was able to grab the lead and take a slightly fortuitous win from de Lange and du Toit with Roos having to settle for fourth. Van der Vyver came home in fifth with a recovered de Roos in sixth. Archer, the last of the classified finishers after Neill’s Ford cried enough around half-distance, was a distant seventh.
In the second heat, de Lange was the early pace-setter with du Toit hounding him until just after half-distance when the BMW took the lead. Both Snyders and Roos worked their way past a slowing de Lange before de Roos dived up the inside going into turn four. The subsequent contact put both of them out of the race and promoted Neill to fourth. That is how they ended, with van der Vyver and Archer in fifth and sixth respectively.
In the day’s overall standings, du Toit took the honours from Snyders and Roos.
While Roos was comfortably in front in the Covid-19 affected championship standings, the battle for the minor placings was much closer. At the end of the day, van der Vyver’s consistency gave him the runners-up spot ahead of Neill with de Lange and du Toit equal on points just a bit further back.