Zwartkops Raceway is set for an action-packed Regional Extreme Festival this coming weekend (13-14 September). The festival will feature a host of sprint races, including visitors from Cape Town and an endurance race.
This will be the competitors’ third visit to the Pretoria circuit in 2024, apart from those in the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series and Pirelli V8 Masters.
While both the Extreme Festival’s Regional and National rosters have solidified a reputation for being the home of South Africa’s premier sprint racing series, the headline event on the programme this weekend will be an endurance race. In previous years, this was traditionally held at the Phakisa Freeway outside Welkom. However, the deteriorating track surface and facilities and the lack of basic amenities like electricity and running water resulted in the former MotoGP circuit being axed from the calendar.
Therefore, the showpiece endurance race on the tour has found a new home at Zwartkops Raceway, the de facto home of the Extreme Festival. The change of venue also resulted in a name change, with the 200 km race, which features the Ferro Energia 111/GT Sports and Saloons and SuperHatch drivers, now being known as the Zwartkops 200. In addition, ATS Motorsport has also come on board as the new naming rights partner.
In the GT championship, George Economides (Wealth Avenue VW Golf Turbo) has won eight of the ten heats held so far this season to open up a 39-point lead over Dawie Olivier (International Race Supplies BMW E30) at the top of the championship log. With third-placed Phillip Meyer not on the entry list at the time of writing, it looks like Olivier is the only one with a chance of preventing Economides from taking the 2014 crown. They will not be the only drivers fighting for GT honours. Former champion Johan van der Vyver is making a welcome return to the track in his Devlaw Subaru with Mark du Toit (Trans Africa Racing BMW Z4) and Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom Hyundai Getz) also in the field.
Wouter Roos (Car Care Clinic VW Polo) leads the way in the overall and Class C 111 Sports and Saloons championship. He has a slender, 3-point lead over teammate Mel Spurr (Car Care Clinic VW Golf), who leads the way in Class A. The Zwartkops 200 rules allow drivers to team up with a co-driver for the endurance race. Both Roos and Spurr have opted to do this; regular VW Challenge competitor Stuart Mack will join Roos, while Spurr has invited Elna Croeser to share the Golf. Class D leader Rob Clark (Containerforce Self Storage Honda Ballade) is in third on the overall log. He will be looking to continue the excellent form that saw him take two class wins last time out in Cape Town. Wayne Robb (Ford Focus ST) took his first Class A win of the season in Cape Town. He is in fourth place in the overall standings and is chasing Spurr in the class championship.
Class C leader Elke van Vledder (VW Golf Mk1) rounds out the top five in the overall standings. With her closest rival in the class standings, Chris Smit, not on the Zwartkops entry list, she should be able to extend her class lead. Michael Grobler destroyed his Pest Control Specialists VW Golf in a huge accident in Cape Town. Despite this, he still leads the Class A standings, albeit by only one point from Jonathan Visser, who had teamed up with KZN driver Rob Preece in the Auto Express Car Service VW Polo. Grobler and Visser occupy seventh and eighth on the overall log, just ahead of fellow Class B driver Luigi Ferro (Ferro Energia VW Polo). Lindsay Clurr (Nathan’s Motorsport VW Golf), who rounds out the top ten in the overall championship, is in third place in Class A. He has joined up with veteran Jakes Jacobs for the endurance race.
George Aldrich (Opel Corsa) leads the way in the SuperHatch championship. He will team up with his son and former champion Francis for the ATS Motorsport Zwartkops 200. They will have competition from Ishmael Baloyi (Trans Africa Racing Hoda Civic), Seten Naidoo (Opel Corsa) and Suman Moodley (Renault Clio RS).
With almost 40 cars lining up on the grid for the endurance race, almost anything can happen, particularly when a compulsory pit stop is involved.
Before the Zwartkops 200 gets underway, the regular competitors will have an eight-lap sprint race before the lunch break, providing the drivers another opportunity to add to their championship points tally.
This will be the seventh round of this year’s BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series, which will feature five closely contested class battles. Having formed part of the Passion for Speed roster at the start of the year, this will be their fourth visit to Zwartkops Raceway in 2024.
Class A will see defending Series champion Leon Loubser (Monaco Motors BMW E92 335i) looking to extend his lead over Ryan Naicker (Fast Development BMW E92 M3 Turbo), who took a double win last time at the circuit. Bob Neill (Delmon Mining BMW E92 M3 Turbo) has yet to compete at Zwartkops Raceway this year but looks impressive elsewhere.
Class B sees Renier Smith (Fast Development BMW E36 M3 Turbo) tied with Nek Makris (BMW E46 335i) at the top of the points table. Last time at Zwartkops, the pair also recorded similar results. To mix things up even more, Andreas Meier (#CEC BMW E36 320iT STC) is only three points adrift.
Gary Martins (Grease Monkey Motor Garage BMW F87 M2 50D) will look to extend his advantage over Reinhardt Miller (Amtec Racing Fuels BMW E36 328i Turbo), who dominated the class in Cape, and Hein van der Merwe (Savspeed Racing BMW E36 328i), who would like to add to his one race win for the year.
Nicholas Herbst (CIM Lubricants BMW E90 330i) leads Class D and also only has a single win for the year, which he recorded at Zwartkops Raceway in Round 2. George Economides (Wealth Avenue BMW E36 330i) will look to repeat his double victory from the last visit to the circuit, while Cobus Bohmer (Peppe Shield BMW E90 330i) will be searching for his first win of the year.
Johan Miller (Hei-Jo Transport BMW E36 328i), who took the Class E lead last time at Zwartkops Raceway, now also leads the Series championship. His on-track competition will include Matthew Wadeley (BMW Car Club Gauteng Track Taxi E46 330i Touring) and Zaheer Seedat (Saltwater Marketing BMW E36 328i).
Johan Miller leads Herbst, Smith, Makris and Meier overall, with only seven points separating them.
The sixth round of this year’s DOE Formula Vee Partnered with CIM Lubricants championship will see Lendl Jansen (Bull Security Rhema 2) start the weekend with a slender three-point lead over Peter Hills (Mangaza Racing Rhema 2), who won all three races in Cape Town, with Brandon Hills (Mangaza Racing Rhema 2) a bit further adrift. Jansen, who started the year with five wins on the trot, will be eager to get back to the top of the podium, with his last victory being back in May. Brandon and Peter Hills shared the wins last time at Zwartkops Raceway,
The PABAR VW Challenge will also see a host of close contests throughout the three-class pack in Round 6.
Bevin Masters (The CPS Warehouse Volkswagen Polo) holds a nine-point lead over brother Wayne Masters (Performance Masters Volkswagen Polo) in Class A, but it was the latter who was dominant last time at Zwartkops Raceway. Third-placed Miguel Dias (Performance Masters Volkswagen Polo) has also regularly racked up points.
Stuart Mack (Creation Wealth Volkswagen Polo) has a healthy lead in Class B over Shiren Rajpaul (Dubcorp Service Centre Volkswagen Polo) and took a double win last time at the circuit. The latter will look to solidify his second place on the points table, with Ethan Coetzee (Slayer Energy Volkswagen Polo) also in close contention.
In Class C, Christopher Tait (Sportex Volkswagen Polo) has a nine-point advantage over Andy Gossman (Goose Motorsport Volkswagen Polo). This pair shared the honours last time in Pretoria. Philip Croeser (ATE Brakes Volkswagen Polo) is third.
However, the overall points table is a closer contest. Tait and Mack are tied at the top, with Gossman third.
Round 6 of the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars sees Julian Fameliaris (Lube-Net Chevrolet Corvette) start the weekend 18 points ahead of his nearest GT Class rival, early points leader Thomas Reib (Café 9 Automotive Chevrolet Lumina), who in turn is 16 points clear of Warren Lombard (PepBoys Automotive Ford Mustang). All three drivers have already won at the circuit this year.
Due to the wet weather, no GT2 Class entrants competed in Cape Town. The status quo remains, with Auke Compaan (Hurricane Automotive Ford Mustang) holding a commanding lead over Steve Herbst (PREI Instrumentation Chevrolet Corvette) and Shaun Holtzhausen (959 Panelbeaters & Spraypainters Ford Falcon).
Cape Town’s Pirelli V8 Masters, who featured on the Extreme Festival roster in the previous round, will make their debut at Zwartkops Raceway. This also marks the first time they will be racing in Gauteng in five years, having previously competed at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in 2019.
While their last outing was as a non-championship support class for the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars, this will be their first scoring round for the all-APV347is series since May. Fabio Tafani (Club Refrigeration) heads up the Gold Class, 10 points ahead of Sean Moore (Ziegler Logistics). The latter is one of a few drivers entered with experience at Zwartkops Raceway, having competed in the INEX Legends series five years ago. Gary Thomson heads the Silver Class, and with second-placed Menno Parsons not making the trip north, Mark Voget (Great South) will look to make up some ground.
Saturday’s races will commence at 10:35, with Zwartkops 200 concluding the day at an expected time of 18:35. Spectator tickets can be purchased from the Zwartkops Raceway entrance gate or by contacting the office beforehand on 012 384 2299 or info@zwartkops.co.za. The full race day will also be broadcast live on https://extremefestival.co.za/live/
Issued by Brandsponential on behalf of Extreme Festival
Main Photograph – by James Thomson
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.