What Regional Extreme Festival Finals Preview
Where Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria
When Saturday 18 November 2023
Community Gauteng Regional
Gauteng Extreme Festival wraps up in Pretoria on Saturday
The 2023 Northern Regions Extreme Festival circuit racing roadshow wraps up with an epic day of racing at Zwartkops on 18 November. Gauteng race fans can look forward to a spectacular show when the G&H Transport Extreme SuperCars, Mobil1 V8s, Pabar VW Challenge, BMW M Performance Parts Race Series, SunBet ZX10 Masters Cup motorcycles, DOE CIM Lubri Fuel Formula Vee and Car Care Clinic 111s and SuperHatch take to the track.
The G+H Extreme Supercars are a Zwartkops favourite and fans can expect more thrills on Saturday. The action up front may have been between the likes of Franco Scribante’s wild Porsche, Zwartkops home hero Jonathan du Toit’s Lamborghini and Stuart White’s Aston Martin through the season. But it’s the ever consistent Charl Arangies who arrives back in Pretoria leading the championship in his Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Gianni Giannoccaro his closest rival in his Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. Also watch for Audi duo Marius Jackson and Joe Ellerine keen to tie up the Class A and C titles, while Mo Mia leads Class B in his Porsche.
Newly crowned Mobil 1 V8 SuperCars champion Julian Fameliaris arrives back at Zwartkops as the favourite in his thundering Corvette after taking the title at the Pretoria racetrack last time out. He has some rivals more than just eager to beat him however, not least Jaguar XKR duo, outgoing champion Mackie Adlem and Franco di Matteo, and Thomas Reib’s Lumina. Terry Wilford in his Mustang and Warren Lombard’s Falcon will also be out to prove a point on the tight twists and turns of Zwartkops come Saturday.
The big Pabar VW Challenge interest is around who will take the Number 1 plate for 2024, and the Class B battle between Ethan Coetzee and Hannes Scheepers. The overall chase is down to a straight fight between newly crowned Class C champion Yotti Nousias and his Class A counterpart Rory Atkinson. Rory’s class A rivals include Wayne and Bevin Masters, Waldie Meintjes, Charl Smalberger and Dean Ross. Ross Butt, Elna Croeser, Jacques Hayes and Shiren Rajpaul are Coetzee and Scheepers’ top Class B rivals. And Nousias has Philip Croeser, Bjorn Bertholdt and Andy Gossman chasing him in the Brat Pack.
The BMW M Performance Parts Race Series title chase is tight with six points separating Class D leader Reinhardt Miller, Class A driver Leon Loubser, and E man Arri van Heerden. Loubser will have Bob Neill and Shaun Gradwell to deal with in Class A. It’s between Nek Makris, Andreas Meier, Lyle Ramsay, Renier Smith and Oz Biagioni in Class B. Nick Fischer, Cape man Anwar Levy and Troy Cochran are fighting over Class C. Nicholas Herbst, Neil Reynolds and Dave Rehse are chasing Miller in E. And van Heerden has Dewald Smith and Claudio Jardim on his case in Class E.
The SunBet ZX10 Masters motorcycles always provide splendidly close fought motorcycle action and Zwartkops race fans can expect more of exactly that this weekend. Graeme van Breda is on the verge of the title after Jayson Lamb fell last time, but Jayson is back and determined to not let it end that way. Both of them must still beat the likes of Trevor Westman, Pieter de Vos, Bryan Bontekoning, Hein McMahon, David Veringa, Johan Le Roux and Damion Purificati to win. So also expect some incredible two-wheel thrills on Saturday.
Race fans can always rely on the DOE Formula Vees to deliver a spectacular show, and Zwartkops’ season finale will be no exception. Title leader Jaco Schriks has Lendl Jansen close enough to be of concern as he tries to wrap up the 2023 title this weekend. Reigning champion Peter Hills will meanwhile be keen to maintain his third place in this year’s chase, but he needs to keep MD Bester and Eric Booyens at bay to achieve that. And never ignore Kyle Watt, Shaun van der Linde, Brandon Hills, Theodore Vermaak and CF du Toit in the close combat that Formula Vee is certain to deliver.
Another class guaranteed to entertain, the Car Care Clinic 111 GTs Sports and Saloons is famous for close, hard racing. Watch for ex-Production racer Dawie Olivier and 111 veteran Lenard Archer’s quick GT Class BMWs up against exotica like Johan van der Vyver’s Subaru, Phillip Meyer in his Porsche 924 GTR, a gang of Volkswagens including Louis Scholtz and George Economides’ turbo Golf 1s, Jandre Bezuidenhout in a Supercup, and a horde of Polos, Golfs, Hondas, Opels and Porsches in the smaller classes.
Superhatch races with the 111s this weekend, where Francis Aldrich’s Corsa, Karel Stols’ Etios, Quintus Viljoen’s Polo and Mark du Toit in a BMW start as favourites. Class B will see Christiaan van Wyk’s Figo fight George Aldrich’s Peugeot. And Civic trio Jono du Toit, Ish Baloyi and Seten Naidoo take on Steve Mearns and Andre de Lange’s Golfs in Class.
With practice Friday, qualifying early and racing from 10 am Saturday, a full day of racing is certainly set to entertain. Buy tickets at the gate for R130 per adult, R90 for students and kids for free, to enjoy some great championship deciding Gauteng racing on Saturday 18 November. Couch potatoes can catch the live streaming via Zwartkops and Extreme Festival social media platforms. See the rest of you at Zwartkops!
Issued on behalf of Extreme Festival
Photography by: Colin Windell
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