2023 Global Touring Cars (GTC) SupaCup rookie Tate Bishop took home a good amount of points from this past weekend’s (17-18 March) second round at his home circuit, Killarney International Raceway.
The ANGRi Racing Kart Academy driving instructor looked competitive throughout Friday’s practice sessions in his ANGRi Racing Volkswagen Polo SupaCup and followed this up with a fourth place on the gird in Saturday morning’s qualifying session. Race 1 saw him tailing the leaders home in fifth place after an early battle with Arnold Neveling.
Again starting from fourth place in Race 2, the multiple SA karting champion had to keep his wits about him to stay clear of the potential danger at the front, with four cars attempting to go side-by-side through Turn 1, However, avoiding an incident also came with its drawback as Bishop was pushed wide while exiting the corner. Bouncing over the purpose-built World RallyCross sections of the outfield cost him track position. Nevertheless, he jostled with Jean-Pierre van der Walt for the position in the opening stages before slotting into seventh place, where he finished the race.
“Our pace was good throughout the weekend,” said Bishop. “In Race 2, off the partially-inverted grid, we were hoping to capitalise on our starting position to finish the weekend with a podium. However, I saw that Turn 1 was building up to a too-many-cars-on-too-little-track scenario. I rather played the long game and let them sort themselves out first. Had I joined in, it would certainly have been too crowded. This sadly cost me as well, but in the end, we were able to record two solid points-paying finishes.”
Bishop’s next GTC SupaCup outing will be at Zwartkops Raceway on 19-20 May.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix – Raymond Cornwell
Picture Caption: Tate Bishop
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.