Louis Deletraz has won the SRO Esports GT Series after finishing third in the deciding round at Kyalami in a race that was won by Luigi di Lorenzo.
Deletraz started the race from pole position but was almost immediately passed for the lead by the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Di Lorenzo on the opening lap. He then also lost second place to Angus Fender’s McLaren 720S GT3 before Deletraz spun the McLaren around.
This dropped Deletraz down to third place as Jordan Pepper moved past and up in to second, setting off in pursuit of Di Lorenzo.
The South African closed in on his rival towards the end of the race and attempted to take the lead, but a mistimed attempt at a pass into The Crocodiles saw the pair make contact, which ended with Pepper’s Bentley facing the wrong way, although he retained second place.
Di Lorenzo was then able to cruise to victory despite a recovery drive from Pepper, who finished second. Deletraz came home in third place, which was enough for the Swiss driver to win the title. It was Deletraz’ second triumph in a week time, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual last week.
Deletraz’ main title rivals Ben Barnicoat and Lorenzo Marcucci had varying fortunes. Barnicoat started 16th but made a miraculous charge from 16th on the grid to come home in fourth, one place behind Deletraz.
Marcucci, on the other hand, finished outside the top ten after starting fifth, but he was spun round by Andy Soucek in the early stages. Soucek was later disqualified after failing to serve the drive through penalty he was given for the incident.
Michael O’Brien finished fifth, ahead of Scott Malvern, Ben Tusting and Fabrizio Crestani. David Fumanelli came out best in a dramatic late scrap on the fringes of the top ten that saw Alex Buncombe penalized and Nicolas Hillebrand crash out, while Lorenzo Marcucci ended his failed title bid in tenth place.
