The Sasol V-Prix of South Africa was held at the Kyalami circuit in initially glorious conditions, with Yakumi Takahashi and Felipe Cesar holding the first two spots on the grid. Championship leader Brock Kidd held third ahead of his nearest rival Nick Addison in fourth. From the start, Brock Kidd got a stunning launch, immediately leapfrogging both Takahashi and Cesar, though both of them followed the American in close proximity into turn one. Most of the field made it through cleanly, but into Yellow Pages Dino Palma was cut off by Luke Stokey, forcing the Formation driver onto the grass and eventually into the tyre wall as the Brit lost control. He damaged his front wing and suspension in the impact, but managed to limp back to the pits meaning a full course caution wasn’t required.
Heading into lap 35, Kidd was under huge pressure from Addison, who had overtaken Cesar and Takahashi in quick succession a couple of laps prior, and perhaps for the first time in the season, the pressure was starting to show for the American Engineering driver. Into the Topsport Esses, he ran wide, and couldn’t get it fully under control into the Wesbank hairpin, spinning off and beaching it in the gravel trap on the outside. He couldn’t get the car back moving, meaning the first full course caution of the race was called in bizarre circumstances. As Kidd got out of the car, his frustration was abundantly clear – he threw his steering wheel across the gravel trap, only to be further embarrassed when the marshal asked for it back to retrieve the car on the low loader. The race was resumed on lap 39, and Addison was extremely comfortable – pulling out a gap of 5 seconds to second place. Cesar was looking very racey, and it only took 6 laps for him to find a way past Takahashi into Nashua – a brilliant move where he jinked to the left only to cut back at the last second. On lap 75, the race was again neutralised, this time after a huge accident for Jamie Gerrard. As he came across the notoriously bumpy turn one, the car bottomed out, ploughing the Signature driver off to the left and into the tyre wall. Luckily, he was unhurt, but small barrier repairs were required as well as clearing up the wreckage. The race was resumed on lap 83 thanks to some very quick work, and Addison again got the jump on the field. Cesar was a distant second by the end of the first lap of the restart, but Takahashi was divebombed into Wesbank by Marcus Thunder, who sensationally took 3rd place. Just as the race was finally settling down, on lap 92 the heavens opened, and chaos reigned supreme with all drivers bar last-placed Hiroto Nakumaya remaining on dry tyres. Enzo Domenicalli was the first to meet the downpour at Nashua and aquaplaned off, giving everyone behind an adequate warning of what was to come. Cesar ran wide trying to push into Total, but not as wide as Addison, meaning Cesar bizarrely took the lead with both off-track. As the rainstorm spread across the circuit, every corner became an incident blackspot, but most concerning was a crash into Wesbank on lap 94. As Will Taylor, Michal Kubat and Keith Murphy were crawling around the circuit, Keith Boston completely ignored the weather, losing control and sliding across the circuit; pile-driving into them. The wreckage was huge, and it was made doubly so when Drake Davies was left with nowhere to go, hitting the rear of Kubat’s car. Nobody was seriously injured in the crash, though a mounting repair bill for a number of teams meant that even after that good news had spread through the paddock, there were still a number of concerned faces. While this was on-going, more drama had hit the front of the field as Cesar himself span, handing Addison back the lead. The Australian got caught up avoiding an aquaplaning Callum Brandon however and was forced off the track, allowing a third lead change within one lap as Cesar took it back. The safety car was thrown immediately to ensure the final lap took place without further incident, with Felipe Cesar taking victory ahead of a furious Nick Addison. While the intervention stopped the progress of Nakumaya – who had been over twenty seconds a lap quicker than anyone else and was slicing his way through the field – at fourteenth, his countryman Takahashi re-took third place in the chaos, while Marcus Thunder and Rodrigo Sanchez completed the top five.
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April 2018
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