Stuart White (Into Africa Racing / Sparco / Wurth SA Lamborghini Huracan) won the opening heat at the second round of the 2024 Extreme SuperCars Driven by Dunlop championship at Killarney International Raceway on Saturday, 16 March. He then finished second in the other two heats behind Franco Scribante (Scribante Racing Porsche 997) to take overall victory on the day. Jonathan du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO) ended the day in third overall and claimed the GT3 class win from Arnold Neveling (GOSCOR Lift Trucks / Stradale Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3).
White started the weekend by topping timesheets in Friday’s practice sessions before going on to claim pole position in Saturday morning’s qualifying session. Franco Scribante was expected to be at the sharp end of the field, but gear selection problems meant that he only set the eleventh quickest time. Scribante’s misfortune allowed du Toit to line up alongside White on the front row of the grid, leading a quartet of GT3 cars. Dayne Angel (Autohaus Angel Ferrari 488 GT3) shared the second row with Neveling with Silvio Scribante (Cemza & Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan) at the front of row three. Xolile Letlaka (Into Africa Racing / Wurth SA Lamborghini Huracan), the second of the Class A+ runners, lined up sixth ahead of Aldo Scribante (Scribante Concrete Lamborghini Huracan) and Andrew Culbert (Bigfoot Express Freight Mercedes Benz AMG GT3).
Class A contenders Kris Budnick (Bucketlist racing Dodge Viper) and Charl Arangies (Stradale Motorsport Lamborghini Gallardo GT3) shared the fifth row ahead of Franco Scribante and Gianni Giannoccaro (Stradale Motorsport / BISC Transport Nismo GTR GT3). Class B went to Ant Blunden (SAJCO / GSP CV Joints Porsche 991 GT3 Cup), while Mike Verrier (NDT Racing BMW Z4)was the quickest of the Class D brigade, ahead of Marco Retter (Progress Precision Engineering BMW E46) and Renzo Torrente (AMT Chiptuning BMW M4) led the way in Class C after breaking out of the Class D lap time. Oliver Hintenaus (BMW) got the better of Uli Sanne (BMW Z4) to lead Class D.
In the opening heat, White used his pole position to good advantage and opened up a gap to the rest of the chasing pack, which du Toit and Neveling initially led. Franco Scribante’s pit crew had managed to sort out the problems with his Porsche in the gap between qualifying and the first race, which allowed Scribante to charge through the field and move up to second place by the halfway mark. White, however, had opened up enough of a gap to hold off the Porsche and take a comfortable win. Behind the leading pair, du Toit had enough in hand to hold off Neveling to take third overall, and the GT3 Class win. Angel just managed to get the better of Letlaka to take fifth, with Silvio and Aldo Scribante in seventh and eighth. Budnick and Arangies had a race-long battle for the Class A win, which eventually went to Budnick, the pair rounding out the overall top ten. Blunden claimed Class B, with Class C going to Verrier from Retter and Torrente. Hintenaus came out on top in Class D.
The second heat was a lights-to-flag win for Franco Scribante. While White tried everything he could to close the gap, the Porsche always had enough in hand to negate any challenges, allowing Scribante to take a comfortable win. Behind them, du Toit cruised to a comfortable third place, taking another GT3 Class win with it. This time, Silvio Scribante took second in the GT3 Class ahead of Neveling, with Aldo Scribante sixth on the road and third in Class A+. Budnick’s Viper let him down and had to be pushed off the grid at the start, leaving Arangies to cruise to a comfortable Class A win and seventh overall. Culbert and Gianni Giannoccaro followed him over the line, with Verrier rounding out the top ten and taking Class C. Blunden was just behind him, again the leading Class B contender.
The third heat had just got underway when the red flags came out after a collision at turn two left several cars, including Angel’s Ferrari and the BMW of Hintenaus, stranded in dangerous positions. Once the damaged vehicles had been removed, a shortened 8-lap race got underway, with White again chasing Franco Scribante at the head of the field. As he did in the second heat, Scribante was able to hold off White and take his second win of the day. Behind them, Neveling got the better of du Toit to claim third, and the GT3 win, with Silvio Scribante third in GT3. Aldo Scribante took another sixth place, this time ahead of Budnick, who inherited the Class A win after Arangies was forced into retirement with fueling issues in his Lamborghini. Gianni Giannoccaro, Letlaka and Ricky Giannoccaro rounded out the top ten. Blunden again took Class B, while Retter claimed the Class C victory from Jimmy Giannoccaro and Torrente.
White took the win from Franco Scribante and du Toit in the day’s overall standings. White and Franco Scribante were joined on the Class A+ podium by Aldo Scribante, while du Toit took GT3 honours from Neveling and Silvio Scribante. Consistency gave Class A to Ricky Giannoccaro ahead of Arangies and Budnick, while Blunden took Class B. Jimmy Giannoccaro led the way in Class C from Verrier and Torrente. Hintenaus ended the day ahead of Sanne in Class D.
The next outing for the Extreme SuperCars driven by Dunlop competitors is at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit from 11 to 13 April 2024.