The 2024 circuit racing season finally gets under way when Zwartkops Raceway hosts the opening Regional Festival round this Saturday 2 March. As always, an eclectic mix of Gauteng’s favourite race series will thrill fans, but with new men, women and machines at play, there’s always that extra bit of early season intrigue too.
Probably the fastest and most dramatic action will come from the thunderous Mobil 1 V8 Supercars. Champion Julian Fameliaris has switched to a Jaguar XKR for ‘24, where he takes on Thomas Reib’s Lumina, Terry Wilford’s Mustang, and veteran Johnny Eekhout’s Corvette. Add Warren Lombard’s Mustang, Sam Dahl in a Falcon and ‘Vettes for Steve Herbst and Andrew Katay.
Another epic season of PABAR VW Challenge racing sees Masters brothers and Bevin dealing with class champion Rory Atkinson, Mike Barbaglia, Luigi Ferro, and Chris Dale in Class A. 17 Class B cars include Polo Cup kids, Ethan Coetzee, Mo Karodia, and Tyler Robinson, lady rival Charisse Piazza Musso and Shiren Rajpaul, Class A refugee Dean Ross and SuperHatch lad Francis Aldrich. Class C is growing too. Watch for Philip Croeser, Andy Gossman and Charl Andersen there.
The BMW M Performance Parts Race Series has attracted no less than 50 entries for its second round at Zwartkops. Leon Loubser takes on Bob Neill and Fabio Fedetto in Class A, it’s Andreas Meier versus Sav Gualtieri, Nek Makris, Renier Smith and Oz Biagioni in B. Reinhardt Miller takes on Nicholas Fischer Nick Naidoo, Anand Naidu, and Mark Jones in C. Racing on their own, George Economides, Craig, and Nicholas Herbst, Stefano Cavalieri, Trevor Long and Claudio Jardim fight it out in D, and Arri van Heerden, Shaun Dodd, Zaheer Seedat and Caren Nienaber in Class E.
DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Lubricants is always great, close racing to watch and the fresh battle for 2024 honours should be no exception. 2023 champion Jaco Schriks will be out for more of the same in his Rhema 2, but expect the likes of Zwartkops legend, dad Peter Hills and sons Brandon and Trevor Hills similar Rhema 2s, Forza duo Theodore Vermaak and Roy Douglas, and Kyle Watt and MD Bester in two more Rhema 2s to be among those out to stop him.
The 111 GTs and Saloons will see over 30 cars including some well-known names fighting it out on the short Zwartkops Raceway. Dawie Olivier’s BMW has George Economides and Wouter Roos turbo VWs, Louis Cloete’s Beetle, and Subaru trio Braam Muller, Johan Labuschagne and Charles Fowlds on his case in the GTs, with Lucas Bezuidenhout in a Lexus and Craig Priestley’s Polo in pursuit. Also watch for veteran racing couple Henry and Elke van Vledder, and her lady rival Melanie Spurr’s Golf, and old timer Mike O’Sullivan and Rob Clark’s Ballades.
Last but not least, it’s Honda versus the rest in Superhatch. Jonathan du Toit, Ish Baloyi, Thishan Govender, Seten Naidoo and Dhiren Ganasen will fly the Japanese brand’s flag. They have the likes of Mark du Toit’s long awaited BMW and George Aldrich in a Peugeot 206 to deal with first.
Zwartkops is of course about far more than just racing with food & drink stalls, arts & crafts, face painters, balloon artists, pedal karts, jumping castles, play area, race simulator, displays, live music, DJ, demonstrations and so much more to keep the family happy.
Track entry is R130 per adult, R90 for students and kids are free. Contact 012 384 2299 or log on to zwartkops.co.za for more. But even more importantly, see you at Zwartkops, Saturday 2 March!
