Inland Historic Tour ends 2024 with a glowing farewell in Zwarkops

Under sweltering conditions, the last historic heats of the year did not leave the well-attended audience indifferent.

This year’s Inland Historic Tour Championship ended on a high, if overheated, note at Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria. The events, held in scorching heat, kept quite a large audience happy.

Sedan cars

Top billing belonged to the pre-1966 Marlboro Crane Hire production cars, with veteran Ben Morgenrood winning the first race in his Ford Mustang.

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He was chased to the finish by Jonathan du Toit (Chevrolet Nova), Hennie Groenewald (Ford Escort RS2000), Seef Fourie Jr (Chevrolet Chevelle), Mark du Toit (Ford Fairlane) and James Temple (Ford Escort RS2000).

Morgenrood and Jonathan du Toit again finished first and second in race two, this time followed by Temple, Fourie Jr, Mark du Toit and Alan Poulter (Volvo 122S).

GT and prototypes

After taking the lead, Larry Wilford’s Lola T70 dropped out of the opening heat for Pre-1974 Sports Racing Prototypes.

Jonathan du Toit (Chevron B9) won both races for pre-1974 Sports Racing Prototypes. In race two he was chased to the line by brother Mark du Toit (Lola T70). Photo: Dave Ledbitter.

As a result, Jonathan du Toit (Chevron B9) won ahead of Peter Bailey (Porsche 917), Mark du Toit (Lola T70 Spyder) and Warren Lombard (AC Cobra).

Jonathan du Toit also won the second race, this time ahead of his brother Mark, Lombard and Andre van der Merwe (Evapco Porsche 911 RSR).

HRSA

The opening race of the Evapco HRSA Sprint went to Andre van der Merwe (Porsche 911 RSR), with Hennie Groenewald (Ford Escort RS2000), Stuart Konig (Volkswagen Scirocco) and Andre ten Napel (Volkswagen Scirocco) as the leader.

The opening race of the Evapco HRSA Sprint went to Andre van der Merwe (Porsche 911 RSR), with Hennie Groenewald (Ford Escort RS2000) home. Photo: Dave Ledbitter.

Van der Merwe also won the second race, this time chased by Ten Napel, Gavin Lundin (Datsun 1200 GX) and John McLachlan (Datsun 1200 GX).

Clubmans

Deon du Plessis (KTM X-Bow) won the first On track Clubmans racing for Adriaan le Roux (Caterham Super 7), Dirk Lawrence (Honda Ballade) and Steve Venter (Nash MVWS).

Adriaan le Roux (Lotus Super 7) scored podium finishes in both Clubmans races. Photo: Dave Ledbitter.

Le Roux won race two from du Plessis, Lawrence and Anton Bitzer (Mazda RX-7).

Midvaal history

Behind them, Eugene Gouws (Mowers Chevrolet Firenza CanAm) took over the Midvaal Historics category from Johan Coetzer (Datsun 1200 GX), Dale Blignaut (Ford Escort) and JJ Venter (Volkswagen Jetta).

Gouws also won race two, followed by Coetzer, Blignaut and Venter.

Silver Cup

The opening race of the Silvercup 2.0 went to Marius Jacobs (Opel Tigra Spaceframe), ahead of Marnus du Plessis (Nissan Primera), Paul van Niekerk (Volkswagen Golf Turbo) and Anton Bitzer (Mazda RX-7).

The opening race Silvercup 2.0 went to Marius Jacobs (Opel Tigra Spaceframe). Photo: Dave Ledbitter.

Giulio Airaga (Opel Tigra Spaceframe) took the next race, followed by Riaan Draper (Beams), Jacobs and Karel Stols (Mazda RX-7).

INEX legends

In both Liqui Moly INEX Legend races, Tyler Robinson won from Jayden Goosen, Richard van Heerde and Gavin Botha.

Single-seaters

JM Gerber’s wild Formula M with KTM engine easily won the first Formula Libre race.

He was followed by Neville van den Berg (Formula M), Damien Archer (Formula GTi) and Adrian Morrow (Formula M).

In race two, veteran Allen Meyer (Formula Volkswagen) finished second behind van den Berg, but ahead of Archer and Morrow.

Andrew Horne (Royale RP31) won both Historic Single Seater races from Paul Gerber (Ray 83), Ben van der Westhuizen (Royale RP21) and Patrick Dunseith (Merlyn Mk25 FF).

Lotus Challenge

David Jermy (Taylon) took over the first Lotus Challenge heat from Rudi Barnard (Birkin), Andre’ Human (Birkin) and Tinus Botes (Birkin).

Jermy, Barnard and Human also filled the podium after race two, this time ahead of JP Nortje (Birkin).

Chase series

The overall victory of the Evapco HRSA Pursuit Challenge went to Wynand du Plessis (Porsche 944 S2), ahead of Rob van Aarle (Ford Escort Mk1), Jannie van Rooyen (VW Scirocco), Gerrit Murray (Alfa Romeo GTV6) and Gary Stacey (Ford Sierra XR8).

Last call

The last event at Zwartkops this year is the season finale of the Regional Extreme Festival on Saturday, November 16.

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