Who was Marcel Angel? Inside the racing champion’s life and career

Marcel Angel was still winning races at Killarney International Raceway just weeks before a fatal crash claimed the life of the veteran South African motorsport competitor.

The 62-year-old Cape Town racer died on Saturday, 19 September, after crashing during the opening Extreme SuperCars race at the National Extreme Festival.

His death brought the racing programme to an early end and prompted tributes from across South Africa’s motorsport community.

But Angel’s connection to racing stretched back decades.

A life built around cars and racing

Away from the circuit, Angel built a career in the motor industry after founding Autohaus Angel in 1988.

The Cape Town dealership describes its founder as a racing champion, businessman and mentor whose motorsport career spanned several disciplines.

Over the years, he won multiple South African championships and earned South African colours, establishing himself as a familiar figure in local motorsport.

Racing also became a family affair.

Angel competed alongside his son, Dayne Angel, with the pair taking victory in the 2018 East London 4-Hour in an Autohaus Angel Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia.

They started the endurance race from pole position and went on to win, later finishing just one point short of the South African Endurance Series championship.

Victory at Killarney weeks before fatal crash

Angel remained competitive well into his 60s and continued racing high-performance machinery.

Less than a month before his death, he returned to the top step of the podium at Killarney.

On 22 August 2026, he drove his #51 Autohaus Angel Ferrari 488 GT3 to overall victory in the Sport and GT category.

Wayne Hoffman finished behind him in a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, while Divan Wentzel took third in another Porsche GT3 Cup.

The result showed that Angel remained a front-running competitor only weeks before the National Extreme Festival returned to the Cape Town circuit.

Motorsport pays tribute to Marcel Angel

Saturday’s Extreme SuperCars race ended in tragedy when Angel crashed at the end of Killarney’s back straight.

Medical personnel and race officials immediately responded, but he succumbed to his injuries.

Organisers subsequently cancelled the remainder of the Extreme Festival programme out of respect for Angel and his family.

Motorsport South Africa extended its condolences to his family, friends and fellow competitors, while Extreme Festival organisers remembered him as a valued member of the motorsport community.

Killarney International Raceway also paid tribute to the experienced racer and offered its condolences to his wife, Mica, his family and friends.

For a driver whose career stretched across decades, Angel’s final weeks reflected the part of his life with which he had become so closely associated: racing.

Just weeks before the crash, he had stood victorious at Killarney. On Saturday, the same circuit joined the wider motorsport community in mourning his death.