Peter Hills prevents a Jaco Schriks hat-trick in Gqeberha
Jaco Schriks takes his first wins since 2023
Just two weeks after their first international trip, the DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Lubricants drivers and crew were back on the road, this time to the Eastern Cape city of Gqeberha, where the fifth round of their 2026 championship took place on 7 and 8 August.
After a subdued start to his 2026 campaign, Jaco Schriks (Cubed Coatings Rhema 2) produced his best performance of the year to take victory in the first two heats and was only prevented from scoring a clean sweep by Peter Hills (Mangaza Racing / First 4 Men Rhema 2), who took the final heat by just over a quarter of a second from Schriks.
In Friday’s practice sessions, Schriks indicated what was to come when he set the quickest time of the day in the final outing, edging Brandon Hills (Mangaza Racing / First 4 Men Rhema 2) by just eleven-thousandths of a second. Gert van den Berg (DOE Quality Parts / Start My Car Rhema 2) and Maputo winner Kyle Watt (Mangaza Racing / First 4 Men Rhema 2) were third and fourth on the day. Championship leader Lendl Jansen (Bull Security Rhema 2) could only manage the sixth fastest lap of the day, a time he set in his first outing, which he could not improve on in the other sessions.
Qualifying took place late on Friday afternoon, and it was Watt who emerged on top after the 20-minute session, 0.026” ahead of Schriks. Vaughn Hills (Mangaza Racing / First 4 Men Rhema 2) was slightly quicker than van den Berg to take third, with Brandon Hills just over a hundredth of a second further back in fifth. Jansen had to settle for sixth ahead of Peter Hills, MD Bester (Mangaza Racing / First 4 Men Rhema 2), and Shaun van der Linde (Truck City Boksburg Rhema 2), the top nine covered by less than half a second. Theodore Vermaak (DOE Quality Parts / StartMyCar Forza) rounded out the top ten, just ahead of the association championship leader Anton van der Merwe (VDM Orthotics & Prosthetics HR-1).
Pole-sitter Watt was slow off the line at the start of the opening heat on Saturday morning and had dropped down to fourth place by the time the field got to the first corner. Schriks led the way, closely followed by Vaughn Hills and van den Berg at the head of a seven-car train that also included Brandon Hills, Jansen and Peter Hills. The leading septet opened a gap to the chasing pack, led by Vermaak, who took a couple of laps to get past the fast-starting van der Merwe. Vaughn Hills was having to defend from van den Berg and Watt, which allowed Schriks to pull away at the head of the field. By half-distance, Schriks led the way by about a second from van den Berg, Vaughn Hills, Watt, Brandon Hills, Jansen and Peter Hills, with Vermaak slowly closing the gap in eighth. A couple of laps later, Watt made his way past Vaughn Hills, and a lap later moved into second when he overtook van den Berg, but the gap to the leader was nearly three seconds, which was too big for Watt to close down in the remaining two and a half laps. With just over a lap to go, Vaughn Hills suffered a mechanical problem, and he slowed dramatically, eventually limping over the line in tenth. Schriks claimed His first Formula Vee win since 2023, over two seconds ahead of Watt, who had built up an advantage of over a second over van den Berg. Peter Hills got past his son Barandon to take fourth, with Jansen in sixth. Vermaak worked his way up to seventh ahead of MD Bester and Cape Town-based Joshua Smit. After a close fight in the latter stages of the race, van der Merwe claimed association championship honours from James Carter (Rhema 2).
Watt again didn’t get the start he wanted in the second race, dropping back to third behind Schriks and van den Berg. As he did in the first race, Schriks slowly pulled away from the battling pack behind him, led again by van den Berg, who was fighting off Watt, Peter Hills, Brandon Hills, Vermaak, Jansen, Bester and Vaughn Hills. While there were lots of attempts at passing in the eight-car train, nothing stuck until Bester got past Jansen on the seventh lap. Two laps later, Watt got up to second with another first corner move on van den Berg. Bester wasn’t finished though, as he claimed sixth place by getting past Vermaak on the final tour of the 2.48km circuit. Ahead of them, Schriks took his second win of the day from Watt and van den Berg, with Peter and Brandon Hills in fourth and fifth respectively. Jansen ended in eighth place ahead of Vaughn Hills and Smit.
Van der Merwe dropped to the back of the field after an off-track excursion at the hairpin on the opening lap. While he did move back up through the field, he wasn’t able to catch Carter, who took the association championship win.
The early part of the 12-lap final heat was a replay of the first two, with Schriks getting a great start and Watt dropping back from his place on the outside of the front row. Van den Berg slotted into second, but started dropping back after 3 laps, Peter Hills moving up into second and setting off after Schriks. A lap later, van den Berg ran slightly wide on the exit of the hairpin and Brandon Hills, Watt and Bester all seized the opportunity to move up. Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Peter Hills was slowly closing the gap to Schriks and pounced with just over three laps to go. Hills was able to hang on and took the win by just over a quarter of a second. Watt had to settle for third ahead of Brandon Hills and Vermaak. Vaughn Hills claimed sixth ahead of van den Berg, with Smit, Shaun van der Linde and Bester rounding out the top ten. Van der Merwe, in eleventh overall, claimed another association championship win from Carter.
In the day’s overall standings, Schriks took the win from Watt and Peter Hills. Association championship honours went to Carter from van der Merwe and Raynard van der Linde.
The DOE Formula Vee, partnered with CIM Lubricants series moves back to Gauteng for their next round, which will take place at Zwartkops Raceway on 11 and 12 September 2026.
