What GTC SupaCup Round 3 Report
Where Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria
When Saturday 20 May 2023
Community South Africa National
Another dominant grand slam GTC SupaCup victory for Bradley
Bradley Liebenberg put his championship aspirations right back on track with another dominant GTC SupaCup display at a packed Zwartkops Raceway Extreme Festival in Pretoria on Saturday.
Liebenberg, who had a fraught weekend at the Kyalami season opener before dominating round 2 at Killarney, continued his title fightback by topping the all-Volkswagen SupaPolo grid to take pole position on Saturday morning, before reeling off another two race wins with the fastest lap in each, in his Hype Energy SupaPolo.
Another comeback kid, Arnold Neveling’s Stradale Goscor car lined up alongside Liebenberg on the front row, ahead of Volkswagen factory driver Jonathan Mogotsi and on form Chemi Liquid Energy racer Dominic Dias. Championship leader Keegan Campos’ Veloce Carello car lined up fifth.
JP van der Walt’s Platinum Wheels machine was next alongside Tato Carello’s Carello Auto SupaCup and rookie Tate Bishop’s Angri LTR machine. But Tate dropped to 11th on the first race grid after picking up a testing penalty. That promoted Calvin Dias’ second Chemi Liquid Energy car to eighth from returning Cape lad Danie van Niekerk, Scottish racing tourist Paul Luti, Bishop, and CompCare Polo Cup debutant Karah Hill in her Kalex car.
Mogotsi got the jump, but Liebenberg sold him the undercut through turn 4 on lap 2 and went into a lead he would not relinquish for the rest of the weekend. Zwartkops is notorious for being difficult to pass, so not much else happened behind as Bradley drove home to a one second victory from Jonathan, with Arnold Neveling on his case and Keegan Campos in pursuit.
Behind them Jean-Pierre van der Walt found a way past Campos early in the race, but stopped late in the race, leaving Campos to fourth from Dominic Dias in a lonely fifth from brother Calvin, Danie van Niekerk, Tato Carello. Paul Luti, who provided some late race entertainment as he fought Tate Bishop and Karah Hill off. Tate left the track in the process, to allow Hill into the top ten on her SupaCup debut, ahead of Tate
Being a little cooler later in the afternoon, heat 2 proved more entertaining. Behind Bradley Liebenberg, Arnold Neveling, Jonathan Mogotsi, Keegan Campos, and Dominic Dias in a line, that is. Tato Carello and Calvin Dias in fifth and sixth were coming under pressure from JP van der Walt, Tate Bishop and Danie van Niekerk.
Then Carello’s car stepped out under braking after contact with van der Walt on top of the hill into turn 5 on lap 4, Calvin Dias could not avoid him and they collided. Which brought out the safety car to clean up the mess, and promoted van der Walt, Bishop, and van Niekerk. They continued their battle for sixth to the flag with Paul Luti and Karah Hill in pursuit as van der Walt incurred a three-place penalty to drop to 14th between Luti and Hill as Carello and Calvin Dias took an early shower.
So Bradley Liebenberg took another grand slam double GTC SupaCup victory off pole position with both quickest laps, to claim a dominant overall win and do his championship hopes no harm at all. Arnold Neveling and Jonathan Mogotsi swapped seconds and thirds, but Arnold was further ahead in race 2, so took second overall. Keegan Campos was a square fourth for the weekend.
An ever-improving Dominic Dias and delighted Danie van Niekerk, who made his trip up from the Cape pay, followed from Paul Luti, Tate Bishop, Karah Hill, and Jean-Pierre van der Walt. That provisionally leaves Campos in a ten point championship lead over the rapidly closing Liebenberg, with Mogotsi just two more points adrift. And Bishop, Neveling, Carello and Dominic Dias in a tight scrap for fourth.
GTC SupaCup now heads home to Aldo Scribante’s Extreme Festival for its midwinter midseason round at in Gqeberha in just four weeks. Should be another thriller!
Volkswagen Motorsport thanks its partners CompCare Medical Scheme, Dunlop SportMaxx, Motul, Sparco and VW Genuine Parts.
Issued on behalf of Volkswagen Motorsport
Photography by: iShoot Stories
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.