Extreme action at Zwartkops as racing lights up the night
The past weekend’s (16-17 May) Extreme Festival Presented By Coca-Cola at Zwartkops Raceway saw the tour’s regional roster entertain a sizeable Pretoria crowd with an exhilarating racing programme that continued past sunset.
The headline race of the day was the 2025 ATS Motorsport Zwartkops 200. The two series that made up the field for this endurance race, the Ferro Energia 111/GT Sports & Saloons and SuperHatch categories, also started the day’s race programme with an eight-lap sprint.
The race was neutralised around the midway mark when George Eysselein (VW Scirocco) retired after he got stuck in a dangerous position in the gravel trap between Turns 5 and 6. This resulted in the Safety Car being deployed and a one-lap dash for the flag. Mark du Toit (Trans Africa Racing BMW Z4), who held the lead for most of the race, had some issues on the restart, which saw George Economides (Volkswagen Golf), a late entrant for the event, take the lead at GT Sports & Saloons win.
Wouter Roos (Origen Oil Volkswagen Golf 7) beat Wayne Robb (Ford Focus 225 ST) for the 111 Sports & Saloons Class A honours, with Jonathan Visser (Auto Express Car Service Volkswagen Polo 6R) completing the podium. Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Ballade) won Class B from Wayne Lebotschy (SHIELD Volkswagen Golf) and Shaun Vermaak (Gapcon Developments BMW F22 235i). Sebastian Bouilliart (Applied Heat Volkswagen Polo) beat Christopher Tait (Sportex Volkswagen Polo) and Keegan Nathan (Nathan’s Motorsport Volkswagen Polo) in Class C. Johan Labuschagne (Muller Developments Subaru Impreza) took Class X from Tyron Pillay (TPAS Honda Civic) and Martin Venkov (Mixbox Automotive Porsche 924).
Keithin Meintjies (TRC Truck Repair Centre Renault Sandero) took the SuperHatch Class T2 honours from Leon Bredenkamp (Honda Civic) and George Aldrich (Aldrich Racing Opel Corsa). Class A saw Ishmael Beloyi (Trans Africa Racing Honda Civic) beat Suman Moodley (Intellergy Renault Clio RS3), while Joshua du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Honda Civic) was the sole Class B runner.
The Zwartkops 200 pole-sitter, Visser, dropped back early in the race, leaving Peet Visagie, at the wheel of Roos’ Origen Oil Volkswagen Golf 7, to set the early pace, with Robb not far behind in his Ford Focus. The pair stayed comfortably ahead of the chasing pack until shortly after the halfway mark, when both cars came in for their compulsory pit stop. While they were in the pits, Scholtz, in the Class B Car Care Clinic Honda Balade, who had been slowly working his way up the field, took over at the front, a lead he would not relinquish even after his pit stop, which he elected to make late in the race. With Roos behind the wheel, the Origen Oil Volkswagen Golf ran in second place until just a lap from the end when Robb got through to take second place. Roos had to settle for third ahead of the Subaru piloted by Labauschagne. Despite a pit stop infringement penalty, Mike O’Sullivan and Rob Clark brought their Honda Ballade home in fifth place, a lap ahead of the BMW of Shaun Vermaak and Strati Yiannakis.
In addition to the overall win, Scholtz also took Class B honours. Robb won Class A, with Clark and O’Sullivan taking Class C. Labauschagne won Class X, for competitors having their first outing in the Ferro Energia 111 Sports & Saloons category.
Meintjies teamed up with his father, Desmond Bloem, to take the SuperHatch overall and T2 class win. Moodley took advantage of Baloyi’s early retirement to win Class A, with Joshua and Mark du Toit claiming the Class B victory.
The Index of Performance award, which measures lap time consistency across the entire race distance, went to Clark and O’Sullivan with Hendrick Venter and Shane Forget (4Js Auto Opel Corsa) with overall winner, Scholtz, in third.
The Liqui Moly Super Vee series formed part of the Extreme Festival Presented By Coca-Cola roster for the first time. Jeandre le Roux (Liqui Moly SuperVee Stealth took the Race 1 win by a sizeable margin over Lushen Ramchander (Liqui Moly SuperVee Forza), while well-known musician Early B (Liqui Moly SuperVee Forza) took his maiden podium.
In Race 2, Fabienne Lanz (SuperVee Stealth) took the win. Kosie van der Merwe (Liqui Moly SuperVee Spaceframe) crossed the line in second place but received a 30-second penalty for jumping the start, which promoted Le Roux and Philip Bellingen (Liqui Moly SuperVee Lantis) to second and third places, respectively.
The BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series again brought the biggest field to the event, with Classes A, B & C competing separately from Classes D, E & F.
Rick Loureiro (Combined Racing BMW F30 330i) won Class A in both races from Leon Loubser (Monaco Motors BMW E92 335i) and Fabio Fedetto (BMW F82 M4). It was also a double win for Lorenzo Gualtieri (Kimbo BMW E46 328i), a late replacement for Carlo Garbini, in Class B, while Renier Smith (BMW E36 M3) took the runner-up spot in both races. Nek Makris (BMW E46 335i) completed the podium in Race 1, but an accident, which resulted in an extensive Safety Car period, saw him retire from Race 2, with Anton Pommersheim (Eagle Granite BMW E46 M3) completing the podium. Pommersheim did finish in front of Smith but received a 30-second penalty for overtaking under yellow-flag conditions. Salvi Gualtieri (SavSpeed Auto BMW E36 328i) beat Nishal Singh (Autonische BMW F80 M3) and Oz Biagioni (Bio Pool Design Lab BMW E46 M3) in Race 1. Nick Naidoo (Wardens Cartage BMW M2) took the Race 2 honours, while Gualtieri held off Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom BMW E90 335i). Bilal Ahmed (TT Audio BMW) and Biagioni initially completed the podium, but they also received 30-second penalties for passing under yellow-flag conditions.
Mario Hattingh (Brario Investment BMW F87 M2) took his maiden win in Class D, while Andre van Vuuren (Curvent International BMW E36 325i) and Richard Germholdtz (FKN Army BMW E30 330i) completed the Race 1 podium. Race 2 saw Dawie Olivier (International Race Supplies BMW E30 330i) take his first win of the year. Hattingh crossed the line in second place but received a 30-second penalty for jumping the start, which promoted Van Vuuren and Bernard de Gouveia (De Gouveia Accountants BMW E46 M3). Wessel Mostert (Mosco Specialised Contractors BMW E46 M3) beat Claudio Jardim (Mixbox Automotive BMW E36 330i) to the Class E win after a closely-contested Race 1 battle. In Race 2, it was Tihan van Rooyen (Van Rooyen Vision Centre BMW E82 125i) who beat Mostert. Karabo Malemela (Liqui Moly South Africa BMW E46 330i) completed the podium in both races. In Race 1, he was the third driver to cross the line, while Cameron Christian’s (Palace Panel & Paint BMW M4) breakout in Race 2 saw him promoted. Chloe Stuart (NGK Pablo Clark Racing BMW E46 330i took a double-win in Class F. Shaun Dodd (BMW E36 328i) and Kyan Boodaya (Wardens Cartage BMW F30 330d) were promoted to the Race 1 podium after Gerald Anthony (P&A Fabricants BMW F82 M4) and Justin Brown (Adlem Automotive BMW E36 328i) broke out. In Race 2, Dodd and Zaheer Seedat (Saltwater Marketing BMW E36 328i) completed the podium.
Terry Wilford (Fuchs Lubricants Ford Mustang) ended the Lombard / Reib Dunlop V8 Supercars winning streak on the opening race when he took the GT1 race win from Thomas Reib (Café 9 Automotive Chevrolet Lumina) with Franco di Matteo (Di Matteo Racing Jaguar XKR) in third. The GT1 trio crossed the line behind Ben Morgenrood (Ben Morgenrood Ford, Mahindra, Haval, Chery Ford Mustang) in one of the best races of the day, but the Randfontein veteran is not eligible to score championship points as his car is not strictly compliant with the series regulations. Warren Lombard (PepBoys Automotive Ford Mustang), the championship leader coming to Zwartkops, suffered steering problems, which brought a premature end to his challenge, this after Richard Fuller (PotAround Ford Falcon) got stuck in the gravel trap at turn five when the braking problems that plagued him on Friday afternoon returned and the subsequent safety car bunched up the field. GT2 honours went to Auke Campaan (Hurricane Automotive Ford Mustang) from Steve Herbst (PREI Instrumentation Chevrolet Corvette) and Alan Ryan (Wellness Group Ford Falcon).
In the reverse-grid second race, di Matteo moved his way to the front of the field after the opening couple of laps, but Lombard was keen to make up for the points he lost out on in the opening heat and took the lead shortly after half-distance. He held on to take the win ahead of championship rival Reib, with di Matteo in third. The GT2 podium was a repeat of the opening heat.
In the ATE VW Challenge, Jayden Goosen (Ferro Energia Volkswagen Polo) took a double win in Class A from Ian Walker (Mellow Veio Volkswagen Polo) and Elna Croeser (ATE Brakes Volkswagen Polo). Stuart Mark (AutoZone Volkswagen Polo) took both Class B wins from Francois Aldrich (VaporWorx Volkswagen Polo). Chris Davison (Generator Services Inc Volkswagen Polo) and Josh Moore (Volkswagen Polo) completed the podium in the respective races.
Class C delivered lots of action with Adriaan de Beer (Ukwazi Engineering Volkswagen Polo), Stuart Konig (Northern Bolt and Tool), and Bryce Pillay (Matelico Autobody Volkswagen Polo) jostling for position in Race 1 to finish in that order. They continued their battle in Race 2, this time with Pillay taking the honours from De Beer and Konig.
The DOE Formula Vee Partnered With CIM Lubricants championship battles also entertained with Lendl Jansen (Bull Security Rhema 2) beating Vaughn Hills (MXTwo Rhema 2) and MD Bester (MXTwo Rhema 2) in Race 1.
Race 2 was stopped just after the midway mark following a horrific accident between James Carter (Rhema 2) and Mile Stewart (Direction Financial Services Forza). When the race was stopped, Jansen led Bester and Johan Gouws (Arcanjo Printer Repairs Jforce), and with more than two laps completed, the final result would be based on an aggregate result for the two portions of the race. Jansen made it two wins with Bester second, with the pair crossing the line in the same order as on the final classification. While Theodore Vermaak (DOE Quality Parts Forza) crossed the line third, Vaughan Hills beat him to the final podium spot on the aggregate result.
The next outing for the Extreme Festival Presented By Coca-Cola’s regional roster will see the first of their two Red Star Raceway outings for 2025, on 27-28 June. Zwartkops Raceway will host the next national Extreme Festival Presented by Coca-Cola on 20-21 June.
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