What Extreme Festival Preview
Where Red Star Raceway, Delmas
When Saturday 12 October 2024
Community South Africa National
Gauteng Regional racing chase heats up in Delmas
The Gauteng Regional Racing Festival heads to Red Star Raceway with five significant championships building up to boiling point at what promises to be an exceptional day of racing on the twisty Delmas circuit on Saturday 12 October.
It’s actually the final round of the bill topping Mobil1 V8 Supercars on Saturday, and with Julian Fameliaris leading the way by 30 points in his Corvette, he seems a fair bet for that title. But Julian knows all too well how quickly things can change in racing and he will be focussed on maintaining that 30-point gap over Thomas Reib’s Lumina, knowing that there are still 52 points on the table. Warren Lombard’s Mustang still has a vague championship chance. Terry Wilford will be out to impress in his GTX Mustang, and it’s between Auke Compaan, Shaun Holtzhausen and Steve Herbs in GT2.
South Africa’s most popular racing class, the BMW M Performance Parts Series never fails to thrill and expect nothing less at Delmas. Class A points leader Leon Loubser, Bob Neill, Fabio Fedetto and Ryan Naicker continue their battle for that title. It’s between Renier Smith, Nek Makris and Andreas Meier in the Class B chase, while Reinhardt Miller is back ahead of Gary Martins and Jan Eversteyn in Class C. Classes D and E race alone, where Nicholas Herbst, Claudio Jardim and George Economides are in the D fight. Matthew Wadeley now leads Zaheer Seedat and Zayid Ismail in Class E.
It’s tied at the top of the PABAR VW Challenge, where Class B veteran Stuart Mack’s Nathan’s Polo and 15 year-old Class C lad Chris Tait’s Vivo share the overall lead. The action up front will however be between Masters brothers, Bevin with Wayne closing him down, Miguel Dias, Mydi Mfana and the Class X turbos driven by Luigi Ferro, Chris Dale and young Bjorn Bertholdt. Mack holds a sizeable Class B lead over Mo Karodia, Shiren Rajpaul, Ethan Coetzee, Ian Walker, Dewald Theron and Anthony Lessing. And Tait has Andy Gossman, Judd Bertholdt and Kyle Petersen on his case in Class C.
It’s been a see-saw season in DOE Formula Vee Partnered with CIM Lubricants. Lendl Jansen came out of his corner hot to dominate the early part, before veteran Peter Hills took the baton of domination over. But Hills struggled last time out when Jansen won again, to take an 18-point advantage into this penultimate Red Star weekend. Which he knows, is nowhere near enough. They are not the only ones looking to win at Red Star, however. So watch for son Brandon Hills, consistent Marcel Blignaut, Kyle Watt, Shaun van der Linde, Theodore Vermaak and Vaughn Hills too, this weekend.
The Ferro Energia 111 & GT Sports & Saloons always put on a great show, but the attention there is between Volkswagen partners, Wouter Roos and Melanie Spurr, and Rob Clark’s Ballade for the overall championship lead as they fight it out in the pack. Expect more close racing in Delmas, with GT men, Phillip Meyer’s Porsche 924, George Economides’ turbo Golf and Dawie Olivier’s BMW up front. Lindsay Clur and Piet Potgieter’s Golfs fight over A, Polo men Luigi Ferro and Mydi Mfana’s Polos for Class B, and Roos and Clark are C and D favourites. Superhatch action sees Jono du Toit’s BMW fighting it out with Karel Stols’ Etios and George Aldrich and Seten Naidoo’s Corsas.
So there you have it! The full Gauteng Regional Racing Festival presents a brilliant prospect to lap up the action trackside on Saturday. There’s far more than just racing at Red Star too. Visit the pits, mix with the drivers, take a close look at the cars and get involved in myriad activities too. There’s a cool variety of food and drink stalls and much more off-track entertainment and even kids too. Entry is R100 per adult, free for kids under 12. Log on to redstarraceway.co.za for more details. See you at Red Star!
Issued on behalf of Extreme Festival
Photography by: Colin Windell
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