Summarize

With his 23 point advantage, 33 on the table and 33 points required to clinch the title, Rustenburg Rocket Michael van Rooyen stands on the threshold of making a long held dream come true to win the South African Touring Cars championship at Killarney on Saturday 13 September. It’s a simpler task for home hero Tate Bishop, who must simply finish both races to clinch the SATC SupaCup title when the Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola visits Cape Town this weekend. 

Van Rooyen will in reality, chase a consistent weekend in the Cape with a view to clinching it at home at the Zwartkops finale aboard his Gazoo Racing Toyota Corolla in October. His rivals will however be hell-bent on decimating that advantage in the Cape and to steal the title in the final races. So, do not expect any holds barred at Killarney. It’s a home race for Michael’s closest title rival, Killarney favourite Julian van der Watt, who indeed took ten points out of that deficit aboard his Chemical Logistics Volkswagen Golf GTI last time out.

Van der Watt’s trouble is rookie teammate Jagger Robertson just two points adrift in third and hell-bent on a first SATC win. Never mind Jozi charger Keegan Campos, who started late, had an awful weekend in East London but still sits dangerously close in his Campos Chemical Logistics BMW 128tc to offer an outside title bet. Behind them, Gazoo Corolla duo Nathi Msimanga and Sa’aad Variawa and Andrew Schofield’s FlySafair CLR BMW 128tc fresh off his best result of the season so far, are ready to run disturbance, especially in the second reverse-grid race.

Local lad Tate Bishop was almost relieved not to clinch the SATC SupaCup title at East London aboard his Angri Racing LTR SupaPolo. Why? Well, because he wants to do that in front of his home fans at Killarney this weekend. The other reason he failed to take it last time out, was Jonathan Mogotsi’s dominant pace in his Volkswagen Motorsport Genuine Parts SupaPolo. Behind them, Charl Visser returns to Killarney in his Charl Engineering SupaPolo fresh off scoring an eighth national championship in last week’s Rotax Senior Max karting finals and Dawie van der Merwe is still chasing a first Toyota win in the unique Gazoo SupaStarlet.

Others to look out for include Nicolaos Vostanis, Kalex lass Karah Hill and reigning Polo Cup champion Jason Loosemore’s second Astron Energy VW Motorsport entry. Then there’s Zimbabwean Dylan Pragji’s Stylin Auto car, Cash Cat 99 lad Muhammad Wally, local wildcard David Franco’s Graphix Design SupaPolo, Niko Zafiris and Dean Venter’s Platinum Mile machine. Capetonian Rob Franco’s Graphix Design version will take Andre Bezuidenhout’s Weltevreden Polo on for SATC SupaCup Masters honours.

With practice on Friday, qualifying Saturday morning, two races through the day, huge action and some scores to be settled, expect the South African Touring Cars and SupaCup to star as usual in the Cape. Catch the action live on streaming via the Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola social media platforms. Better still, see you at Killarney!