The first round of the 2018 South-African ORE national championship was hosted by TRAP RC Venue in Pretoria over weekend 17 and 18 February 2017. There is great excitement within the South African RC family with the 2018 IFMAR Worlds being hosted in Welkom later in the year. There were two practice and a pre-nationals events hosted before the nationals and all the top drivers were practising hard to fine tune the setups in hot weather conditions with the track reaching temperatures of up to 67 degrees and a very fast layout.
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Touring modified results:
1. Hein Kotze (TQ) â“ XRAY T4
2. Jacques Liebenberg 3. Antonio Caroli â“ XRAY T4
The qualification round was a tight affair with Hein Kotze winning Q1, Jacques Liebenberg winning Q2 and Conrad Liebenberg winning Q3. It was Hein Kotze who managed to win Q4 with his XRAY T4 to secure overall TQ. The racing in the A finals was great with cars achieving speeds of up to 118km/h down the straight. Hein Kotze went on to win A1 and A2 to secure victory. It was Jacques Liebenberg who eventually achieved 2nd place with Antonio Caroli completing the podium.
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Pro-stock 13.5T Touring results:
1. Gunther Cornelius (TQ) â“ XRAY T4
2. Jan Venter - 3. Kevin Hatting â“ XRAY T4
The Pro-stock class had a good turn-out and there was some competitive racing between newcomer Jan Venter, Kevin Hattingh, Jean Wessels, Emile Moerman and Gunther Cornelius. It was Gunther Cornelius (XRAY T4) who managed to secure TQ with Jan Venter starting in 2nd on the grid and Jean Wessels from 3rd. Gunther managed good consistent runs in A1 and A2 to secure the overall win. Jan Venter managed to hold on to his 2nd place with the youngster Kevin Hattingh driving his XRAY T4 to 3rd on the podium.
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Formula results:
1. Pedro De Gouveia (TQ) - XRAY X1
2. Brett Ross - XRAY X1
3. Jannie Hatting - XRAY X1
The F1 had challenging grip conditions with the high track temperaturs, but the drivers managed to get their cars to work great and improved throughout the two racing days. Pedro de Gouveia continued his dominant form from last season by easily securing TQ and also winning A1 and A2 to secure overall victory. He was followed by Brett Ross who had great battle with Jannie Hattingh and Pieter Swemmer. Jannie eventually managed to complete the podium in 3rd place.
