Summarize

The South African Touring Cars and SupaCup head to the classic East London Grand Prix circuit for what promises to be an epic weekend of racing highlighted by tight championship chases as much as it will be by angst and perhaps even a slice of vengeance at the fifth round Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola, Saturday 19 July. 

The battle up front is between an experienced veteran and rapid rookie challenger topping a whole series of South African Touring Car battles through the field. It’s all of a sudden, a little more serious in the SATC SupaCup however, where young Capetonian Tate Bishop has not only come under pressure from reigning champion Jonathan Mogotsi of late, but controversy following an official bungle around the handling of an awry recent technical check last time out, has left some teams smarting.

South African Touring Cars championship is an intriguing battlefield. Veteran Michael van Rooyen, who has raced the full season so far, consolidated his advantage with his best performance of the season aboard his Gazoo Toyota Corolla at the previous Zwartkops round. That was enough to temper the charge of Keegan Campos, who started his season a round late in Campos Racing Chemical Logistics FAST Racing BMW 128tc, but flew from there in. 

So it’s all eyes on Michael and Keegan in the championship chase. Van Rooyen’s Zwartkops success was however underpinned by great teamwork by his Gazoo teammates, Saood Variawa and Nathi Msimanga. They played a significant role of interference to allow Michael to take the advantage at Zwartkops. Now it remains to be seen if the rest of the Chemical Logistics team will put their championship aspirations aside to assist the Campos effort. 

Chemical Logistics Volkswagen Golf GTI duo, Julian van der Watt and Jagger Robertson are also thick in the championship chase that still includes Campos at close quarters. So they have their own battles to fight. Less entrenched in the title fight, Andrew Schofield’s second FlySafair CLR FAST BMW 128tc and Siya Mankonkwana’s Investchem Corolla are however more likely to take Campos’ championship side.

Battle lines have however been drawn far firmer in the SATC SupaCup. Certain cars may well have been found outside of regulations at Zwartkops last time out, but a clerical error by officials in reporting the issue rendered the evidence null and void, to leave some rivals furious about the outcome. So it’s tense, as Cape kid Tate Bishop’s Angri Racing LTR SupaPolo heads to East London with a diminished championship lead over Jonathan Mogotsi’s Volkswagen Motorsport Genuine Parts version. 

Behind them, Charl Visser remains a factor in his Charl Engineering SupaCup, but he has Polo Cup champion Jason Loosemore’s second VW Motorsport entry and Dawie van der Merwe’s sole Gazoo Toyota SupaStarlet on his case in a fraught midfield spat. Nicolaos Vostanis, Kalex lass Karah Hill, Muhammad Wally’s Cash Cat 99 entry, Zimbabwean Dylan Pragji’s Stylin Auto car, Graphix Design racer David Franco, Niko Zafiris and Dean Venter’s Platinum Mile car are also all there or thereabouts. Andre Bezuidenhout’s Weltevreden entry and Graffix Design driver Rob Franco will meantime fight over Masters honours.

With practice on Friday, qualifying Saturday morning, and two races through the day, championship tussles across the board and some knives well and truly out, the South African Touring Cars and SupaCup are set to star on a full East London national race bill. See you at the races. Or catch them live on streaming via the various Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola social media platforms Saturday 19 July.