Summarize

Shock Toyota hillclimb victory tops a varied Gazoo Racing Week



Toyota Gazoo Racing Week 36 delivered a broad spectrum of racing topped by a totally unexpected Toyota victory in the Simola Hillclimb’s King on the Hill on Sunday. In a weekend topped by Max Verstappen’s dominant home Dutch Grand Prix victory over Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas, Arthur Leclerc, Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger took Formula 3 wins and Alice Powell won to draw level in the W Series points standings, Pieter Zeelie’s Simola win was the biggest surprise.

Zeelie’s Toyota Simola Shock

Zeelie’s 660 kW turbo V6 GR Toyota MR2 took a shock victory as he beat favourite Franco Scribante's Nissan GT-R to snatch that hallowed King of the Hill gong. Andre Bezuidenhout took single seater honours with a record 34.965 second run in his McLaren ahead of Robert Wolk’s A1 GP Dallara Ferrari, Franco Scribante's Chevron won the Classic climb from Ian Schofield’s F1 Minardi, and Jared Yeo’s Porsche beat Peter Lindenberg’s Shelby Mustang to Road Car honours.

South African racers had a tough weekend abroad. Steven Odendaal did well to come from behind in both Magny Cours, France World Supersport races, to second in heat 1 and sixth in race 2. Fellow Yamaha riders, title rival Dominique Aegerter and Manuel Gonzalez won. Jozi lad Dorren Loureiro was fourth and ninth in the SSP 300 races on his Kawasaki, while Toprak Razgatlioglu’s Yamaha three times beat Jonathan Rea’s Kawasaki to take the World Superbike title lead.

Kelvin van der Linde drove his naturally aspirated Audi R8 to fifth and of seventh in the weekend’s DTM races to minimise his title losses against turbo rivals at high altitude Red Bull Ring in Austria. Aussie youngster Liam Lawson’s Ferrari scored a double win to prune Kelvin’s advantage to 12 points. It was a weekend to forget for younger van der Linde brother Sheldon, who retired from strong positions in both races.

Locals Star at KZN Max Nationals

Closer to home KwaZulu Natal locals stole the show at their home SA Rotax Max karting round at iDube. Cape kid Joseph Oelz took trio of seconds to take the day. Local man Robert Whiting dominated the opening DD2 races but hit trouble in the final to end second from race 1 winner Jaimie Smith. KZN star, Jonathan Pieterse won two DD2 Masters heats to Michael Stephen’s one and Cape lad Tate Bishop beat another hot local hotshot, Riley Horner two heat wins to one in Senior Max.

KZN lad Troy Snyman took a spectacular Junior Max two races to one from Jayden Goosen and Reza Levy. Another local hero Travis Mingay edged upcountry hotshots Wian Boshoff and Erich Heystek in under-13 Mini Max. Gauteng's Rafael da Silva took Micro Max from compatriot Reagile Mailula and Keagan Beaumont. Maddox Mason was one of three Bambino winners ahead of race 2 winner Rafael de Sousa, Jack Moore and race 1 winner Mathew Shuttleworth.

The week long Kalahari Rally started with a gruelling 450km on Sunday. Terence Marsh and Riaan Greyling, Eben Basson and Gerhard Schutte and Philip Botha and Roelof Janse van Vuren delivered a Red-Lined 1-2-3 over Hennie de Klerk and Adriaan Roets’ TreasuryOne BMW in the cars. Dewald van Breda and Johan du Toit took Buggy honours, Jeff Minnit and Siegfried Rousseay side-by-side honours and John Hanekom beat Hentie Hanekom and Charan Moore on the bikes.


ENDS

Issued on behalf of Toyota Gazoo Racing Week

What:Toyota Gazoo Racing Week
Where:International
When:4-5 September 2021
Community:International

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