Summarize

Investchem Racing commences the 2021 South African Global Touring Car Championship on the front foot with a three car effort and the focus clearly on wresting that premiere title this year. That starts at Killarney in Cape Town this weekend, with the opening round of the national championship GTC Extreme Festival.

GTC was among the championships to skip the lockdown 2020 season, although the series did race later in the year, during which time the Investchem team took the opportunity to re-engineer its cars end-to-end and conduct a comprehensive test program.

“We re-imagined our GTC project through lockdown,” Investchem Racing team principal Ian Schofield pointed out. “We concentrated on two principal areas in search of improved reliability around our chassis and the wiring aspects of our cars’ electronics. “Then we went testing and have since done more than a championship season of running with none of the reliability issues that had previously caused so many issues for GTC.

“So we’re confident for a great season ahead. “Our three-car team has one objective — to win the championship! “That’s no mean feat — we will have our work cut out to beat the factory Gazoo Toyotas among some other tough rivals, with a few more quick cars expected to join the GTC ranks shortly, so we are under no illusions, but the whole team can’t wait to race."

Investchem Racing's three car effort will see GTC regular Robert Wolk chasing overall title honours aboard one of its latest specification Chemical Logistics Toyota Corolla GTCs. “We are most excited for the 2021 season,” Robert admitted. “We completely re-developed the our Corolla GTCs through lockdown and also extensively tested the cars, so we're confident that they're not just fast, but reliable too. “Now we are ready to race!" 

Wolk’s fellow former Investchem Formula 1600 champions, Scott Temple and Julian van der Watt will dovetail 2021 driving duties, sharing the second Chemical Logistics Corolla GTC and a new to GTC Europerformance Ford Focus. Temple will race the first three races in the Corolla, while van der Watt will race the Focus. The driver who is best placed in the title chase will race the final two races in the Toyota, the other in the Ford.

“I am delighted at the opportunity to race the full season of Global Touring Cars this year,” Scott Temple confirmed. “I had an outing in the Corolla in one of the few GTC races last year and it was an incredible experience. “I will start the season in the Chemical Logistics Corolla before swapping to the Europerformance Focus midseason, so it’s going to be an interesting season as Julian and I are in a pretty intriguing race within a race.”

The Europerformance Ford Focus was in fact the prototype GTC car that was built around a correct specification chassis and fitted with a Ford V8 engine before GTC opted to race 2-litre turbo engines. Investchem Racing acquired the car and WCT re-engineered it with a specification GTC 2-litre turbo engine, at the same time as applying the updates to the car that have proven a significant step ahead in its Chemical Logistics Toyota Corolla GTCs.

Julian van der Watt will debut the Europerformance Focus GTC at his home track on Saturday: “We have tested and set the car up and I'm looking forward to playing the underdog and running a bit of interference with it in these three races,” Julian smiled. “I had a few great outings in the Corolla last year and also tested it extensively since. “I’m also looking forward to my private spat with Scott — none of us can wait for the weekend!”

“Global Touring Cars is the pinnacle of South African circuit racing,” Ian Schofield concluded. “In spite of the challenges of lockdown, we will be part of an encouraging grid at Killarney this weekend. “The series has gone to great lengths to rectify some aspects that needed attention and we now expect close and competitive racing and the grid to grow through the next few races, but we will be racing three cars from the outset.”