Digit FMS 111 GT Sports & Saloons
Round 5 at Zwartkops delivered exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Digit FMS 111 GT Sports & Saloons field — close racing, big battles, a few bruised race cars and championship fights that are getting tighter with every lap!
Friday practice got underway with competitors showing good pace from the outset. Newcomers Tyler and Berlin Robinson, JP Bohlman, Ian Gilley, as well as the LND Motorsport crew including Sean Murray and Kyle Shepard, quickly found their groove in their new environment.
With the field dialing in their cars, Saturday was shaping up to be a cracker.
Saturday Qualifying
Qualifying brought drama almost immediately when oil was dropped on circuit. Championship contender Tihan Van Rooyen had an unfortunate meeting with the Turn 5 wall, leaving his BMW 125i heavily battle-scarred and his crew with a mountain of work to get him onto the grid.
Charl Weyers and newcomer Sean Murray were also caught out by the oil-slicked tarmac and came together, while Wayne Odendaal had an unfortunate meeting with the pit wall, putting his immaculate Mk1 Golf out for the remainder of the day.
The Well-Netix Pole Position Awards went to Wayne Robb in GTA, who produced a new personal best of 1:06.9. Jonathan Visser claimed GTB pole after JP Nortje broke out of the class, while Lindsay Clurr pipped Ernest Heather at the last moment for Class A pole. JA Freckleton took Class B, Jacques Willemse Class C and Ismail Peck Class X.
Digit FMS GT Sports & Saloons – Race 1
The action started immediately, with Jared Rossouw finding the kitty litter at Turn 1.
Out front, Wayne Robb kept his cool in the Focus ST and brought it home for the GTA victory, followed by Tyler Robinson in her SupaPolo and Mark Du Toit in the M-Coupe.
GTB produced a great fight between Jonathan Visser and Shaun Holtshausen, the pair swapping positions while chasing newly promoted GTA competitor JP Nortje. Unfortunately, an engine-mount failure ended Holtshausen’s charge, leaving Visser to take the GTB win ahead of Wayne Spicer in the Polo 9N3.
Digit FMS 111 Sports & Saloons – Race 1
Class A saw a fantastic moment for rookie Ernest Heather, who led the field into Turn 2 for the first time in his racing career!
Veteran Craig Priestly had other ideas and took over the lead by Lap 2. Lindsay Clurr kept pushing and found his way into second on the final lap, giving Priestly the win ahead of Clurr and Heather.
After an enormous repair effort, Tihan Van Rooyen made the grid just in time, starting from pit lane and fighting his battered BMW all the way back to 6th in class.
Charl Weyers also made the start, but a broken rear stub axle unfortunately ended his day early.
Class B belonged to Piet Potgieter, who kept things tidy to take the win ahead of Mike O’Sullivan and JA Freckleton. Class X entrant Ismail Peck threw the proverbial cat amongst the Class B pigeons in his E46 M3, producing some fantastic battles along the way!
In Class C, “Batman” Henry Van Vledder rose to the occasion to take the win. Rob Clark continued his consistent form with second, while Elke Van Vledder began getting to grips with her completely rebuilt Mk1 Golf to claim third.
Class X went to Peck, followed by 111 returnee Mark Harvey, with newcomer Ian Gilley taking third.
Digit FMS GT Sports & Saloons – Race 2
Race 2 brought more Turn 1 drama as Jared Rossouw and Berlin Robinson came together, scattering the pack and opening the door for Tyler Robinson to scamper away at the front.
Race 1 winner Wayne Robb suffered brake difficulties, while Tyler kept her head down and drove home to a brilliant GTA victory. Rossouw recovered to second, with Mark Du Toit completing the podium.
In GTB, disaster struck Shaun Holtshausen again, this time with an engine failure. That left Jonathan Visser to complete the double, with Wayne Spicer bringing the Well-Netix Polo home second.
Digit FMS 111 Sports & Saloons – Race 2
Craig Priestly was untouchable in Class A, leading from flag to flag.
Ernest Heather passed Lindsay Clurr on the opening lap and spent the race chasing Priestly before having to defend from a charging Clurr in the closing stages. Ernest held on for an excellent second place — his best result of the season — with Clurr right behind him in third.
Class B saw Piet Potgieter complete the double, followed this time by JA Freckleton and Mike O’Sullivan. Once again, Ismail Peck’s Class X M3 was right in the thick of the Class B action, with another almighty tussle with Freckleton. It’ll certainly be interesting to see Peck joining Class B at the next round!
Class C went to Johan Willemse, who worked his way through the pack to take the win ahead of Henry Van Vledder and wife Elke Van Vledder.
Peck completed his Class X double, followed by Mark Harvey “Wallbanger” in the Porsche, while newcomer Kyle Shepard grabbed the final podium position.
🏆 Overall Results
GTA: Tyler Robinson | Mark Du Toit | Wayne Robb
GTB: Jonathan Visser | Wayne Spicer | Shaun Holtshausen
Class A: Craig Priestly | Lindsay Clurr | Ernest Heather
Class B: Piet Potgieter | Mike O’Sullivan | JA Freckleton
Class C: Henry Van Vledder | Elke Van Vledder | Troy Starr
Class X: Ismail Peck | Mark Harvey | Ian Gilley
A massive congratulations to all our winners and podium finishers, and thank you to every competitor who helped make Round 5 such a fantastic day of racing.
To all our newcomers — welcome to the madness! We hope you had an absolute blast and that we’ll be seeing plenty more of you.
And now the attention turns to the penultimate round at Red Star Raceway on 10 October.
The championship points are tighter than ever, and with the sharp end of the season approaching, several classes are coming right down to the wire.
Round 6. Red Star. 10 October.
🔥 THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT IS ON! 🏁
Images Courtesy of David Ledbitter & Digit 111 GT Sports & Saloons