Angel claims double Sports & GT wins

Wet and windy midwinter Cape conditions did little to prevent Marcel Angel from piloting his stunning Autohaus Angel Ferrari 458 GT3 to a double WP Crossley & Webb Sports & GT victory at Killarney on Saturday, but his rivals certainly did their bit to stop him, not least Porsche duo Johan Engelbrecht and Matt Kreeve, who delivered a sensational wet driving performance.

Only six cars bothered venturing out in the Saturday morning gloom as Angel put the Ferrari on pole position from Engelbrecht and Kreeve’s Porsches, but the track was still damp for the start of the first race. Matt Kreeve made a great getaway to move his NineXi Porsche 911 GT3 into the lead from Johan Engelbrecht’s JogaJogga Porsche 911 GT2 R , with pole man Marcel Angel third in the Ferrari as the lights went out.

It took Angel a lap or two to get the Ferrari’s tyres up to temperature and he soon picked off Engelbrecht and then Kreve on lap 4 to move into a lead he would not relinquish to win from a mightily impressive Kreve who made the most of the slippery conditions to claim a special second and Engelbrecht. Further back, Gary Kieswetter had a steady run to fourth in the Advanced Packaging Technology Porsche 911 GT3, but there was plenty action behind him.

Colin Plit was another to make a lightning start as he moved his Tricera Investments Juno Honda up from 12th on the grid to seventh at the end of the first tour before picking off Andre Brink’s SSB Transport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup on lap 5 and then Craig Harper’s impressive re-engined Harper Cars Harper-Alfa Romeo Type 5 on the last lap to end up fifth overall from Harper and Brink.

Maarten Prins (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) finished eighth, a lap down after passing Martin Pugh’s Appleberry Farms Shelby Can Am midway through the race, with Louis de Jager (Lola T212) closing off the top ten ahead of Cyril Ginsburg (Ginsburg Asset Consulting Porsche 911 GT3 RS) Paul Schwartz (Ford GT40), Scois Joubert (Lotus Exige) and Ray Farnham’s Birkin Opel 7.

In the classes, Angel took A honours from Engelbrecht, while Matt Kreeve upset the Class B applecart to deny Gary Kieswetter taking his customary win in those tricky conditions. Maarten Prins beat Martin Pugh to Class C honours and Paul Schwartz took Class D from Ray Farnham.

Marcel Angel had to fight off a determined Johan Engelbrecht it take the second heat, the pair dicing a while before the Ferrari settled down and made off to a 7-second win. Colin Plit and Class B winner Gary Kieswetter diced a little further back, with Plit eventually overcoming Kieswetter for the final podium step, while Andre Brink drove an untroubled race to fifth.

There was a fight for sixth though, with Maarten Prins fighting up from tenth to take the place, claiming he scalps of Martin Pugh, Craig Harper, Louis de Jager and Matt Kreeve en route as those four closed off the top ten. Paul Schwartz made it two Class D wins out of two in 11th ahead of Cyril Ginsburg and Ray Farnham after Scois Joubert’s Lotus stopped after 6 laps.

The next round of the Crossley & Webb Sports & GT championship is on Killarney’s Woman’s Day Wednesday 9 August meeting.