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Gerhard Roux took a triple-win at Red Star Raceway while the 2019 Liqui Moly INEX Legends title race became a two-man battle after the penultimate round of the season on 11-12 October.
The weekend saw Roux becoming only the second driver to achieve this feat in the current season after Race 1 saw him taking his maiden win for the year. Saturday morning’s draw to determine the starting grids for the first two races saw Ian Upton drawing pole position for Race 1.
Jostling for positions
Chris Hoy lined up next to him ahead of Anton Repsold who made his return to the championship after a two-year absence. Justin and Jagger Robertson started fourth and fifth respectively with Richard van Heerde rounding out the top-six.
Upton retained the lead into the first corner while the rest of the field jostled for position. On Lap 2 it was Charl Roux who emerged as his primary challenger while Gerhard Roux still made his way through the pack from last on the grid.
Meanwhile, Willie Erasmus joined the battle upfront which looked set for a showdown on the final lap. With only 0.955 of a second between the top-four, Gerhard and Charl Roux were the first to cross the line ahead of Erasmus and Upton.
The win also marked Gerhard Roux’s first podium finish since Round 2 back in February. Further back another last-lap battle to the line saw Justin Robertson pegging Jagger by 0.08 of a second.
Fight for top spot
Gerhard and Charl Roux started on the front row for Race 2, but off the line, it was Erasmus who made a superb start with him taking the lead for a brief period.
Gerhard Roux, however, regained the position on Lap 2 to hold Erasmus off to the flag and take his second win for the day. Behind them, Charl Roux had to work hard to keep championship-leader Jagger Robertson at bay and claim third place.
Image: Reynard Gelderblom
Upton worked his way through the field from his last place on the grid to finish in fifth place ahead of Hoy. Race 3 saw a good tussle for position throughout the opening half of the race from the grid based on the day’s inverted points table.
In the latter stages Gerhard Roux held off Charl Roux to make it three out of three for the day; the latter making it three podium finishes for the day.
Still in contention
Upton defended well against Justin and Jagger Robertson to clinch third place and with that make his first 2019 visit to the podium. Hoy added another sixth-place finish.
Image: Reynard Gelderblom
This gave Gerhard Roux a full house of points for to take the overall win ahead of Charl Roux and Upton; the trio also celebrating this result for the Masters Class. Erasmus beat Hoy in the Professional Class while Jagger Robertson was the sole Semi-Professional contender. The day saw Jagger Robertson remain on top of the points table while Justin Robertson retained second place.
While there’s still a drop-round to consider for the season’s final standings, Erasmus now finds himself eliminated from the battle for the title.
The weekend saw him beating the Robertson pair on points, but not with a big enough margin to keep himself within contention. 15-16 November will see the 11th and final round of the championship taking place at Red Star Raceway.