The City Paint and Tool Reynard single-seater of Durrant Motorsport claimed first place in the C2 class (naturally aspirated single-seater or sports car of four-cylinder) at the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb in Knysna on Sunday, with Garth de Villiers at the wheel. This victory was achieved following two very competitive days on the hill in Knysna where the event took place in perfect conditions.
De Villiers’ fastest time this year of 42.013 is a half-second quicker than their winning time of 2017.
“Ecstatic does not even begin to describe how happy we are right now,” says De Villiers. “Victory for a second consecutive year – and our second outing at the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb – with some seriously competitive racing from the other teams makes it a fantastic weekend. We could hardly ask for better.”
De Villiers winning time was nearly a full three seconds faster than his nearest class rival – and only once did he take longer than 43 seconds to get to the top of the hill at the Simola Golf and Country Estate.
In addition to a second victory for Durrant Motorsport at the hillclimb, their four-cylinder two-litre entry was third overall in the sports car and single-seater category, finishing behind two of the C1 entries (for more powerful five-cylinder and larger capacity cars).
“Competition is intense out here on the hill,” says De Villiers. “Chasing the faster cars to the top when they have more horsepower and a larger wheelbase is no easy task. Every single ounce of speed counts and your commitment is total or you slide to the back of the pack.”
“I cannot thank the Durrant Motorsport team members enough for their focus to the task. Without their expertise and dedication, there simply is no way to stand at the top of the podium for our category again this year.”
The Reynard name is synonymous with thoroughbred race cars which have been designed and raced internationally since the early 1970s and became popular in South Africa when they competed under the Formula Volkswagen banner.
The eight-man Durrant Motorsport team, managed by Phillip Weise, with De Villiers as the driver, has a four-man technical team in Lukas van der Westhuizen, Jan Bezuidenhout, Orbert Maqhubela and Lee Charles Brunette. The software and data side of the engineering is dealt with by Raymond Pothier and Brian Turner. The team operates under the ROVD Engineering stable, a member of the Durrant group of companies.
Alan Straton
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