2023 Global Touring Cars (GTC) SupaCup debutant Tate Bishop celebrated his second podium finish this past weekend (21-22 July) in the fifth round of the championship held at East London Grand Prix Circuit.
The ANGRi Racing Polo SupaCup driver already has a top-three classification from his maiden outing in the season opener, albeit by the penalties imposed on those who finished ahead of him. Since then, he has taken four fifth-place finishes while regularly being a podium contender.
However, the Sparco brand ambassador’s fortunes changed on Saturday, when he started the day by setting the third-fastest time in the morning’s qualifying session. In itself, a new personal best for the CompCare Polo Cup graduate.
In Race 1, he proved that this was no fluke result by passing season-regular Jonathan Mogotsi for second place in the running order. On the following lap, the positions swopped again before Bishop dropped back behind Mogotsi, who set off after race leader and former champion Brad Liebenberg. Bishop also had championship leader Keegan Campos and fourth-placed Arnold Neveling to contend with. Bishop successfully held them off to take his first on-track podium finish.
Later in the afternoon, he made it two podiums for the day, but this time it was Bishop’s turn to have the position stripped away due to a post-race penalty. An incident with Campos on the opening lap of Race 2 saw five seconds added to his time, demoting him to fifth behind Neveling and Campos.
“It is a pity about the penalty, but we won’t let this dull the mood in the camp at the end of a great weekend,” said Bishop. “We pushed hard this weekend at a circuit where things worked in our favour for a change, and we took home some solid points against top-class opposition. Thank you to everyone who made this possible; we aim for more silverware in the final four races.”
Bishop’s next GTC SupaCup outing will be the return visit to his home circuit, Killarney International Raceway, on 8-9 September.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix
Picture Caption: Tate Bishop
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