Summarize

Jagger Robertson took the opening race win of Zwartkops Extreme Festival finale to wrap up the final, 2024 Investchem Formula 1600 championship on Saturday. It was however Karabo Malemela who stole the show as he won the last ever Investchem Formula 1600 race to take the day.

Malemela was the surprise of qualifying as he put his KMFT Morita Mygale onto pole position by two hundredths of a second. Title fighters, Jagger Robertson’s Liqui Moly machine followed a similar gap ahead of Ensor-Smith’s African Heating Bitro Frameless entry. Alex Vos’ Investchem DV Building Supplies car started fifth ahead of Production X lad Shrien Naidoo.

Rookies, Renzo Ribeiro’s Metal Used, Mikel Bezuidenhout’s Huawei, Liam Polome Red Dot Vantage cars followed from Siyabonga Mankonkwana’s Investchem entry, Bee Tee Tova driver Ewan Holtzhausen and two more Investchem rookies, Ndzalo Khoza and young lady newcomer, Simphiwe Mohlahlo. Five Formula Ford Kents, Nicholas van Weely’s Magnificent Paints Van Diemen, Ian Schofield’s Investchem Mygale and Van Diemen trio, Duncan Vos, Ron van Weely and Allen Meyer, closed off the grid.

Jagger Robertson got the drop on pole man Karabo Malemela with KC Ensor-Smith third. Vos and Naidoo squabbled for fourth and there was a tight fight in the Kents. But Simphiwe Mohlahlo ground to a halt and Allen Meyer also stopped with a drive issue, to bring the safety car out for a couple of laps. Robertson caught the rest napping on the restart, leaving Malemela under pressure from championship contender Ensor-Smith.

Malemela was having none of it however, as he drove away from KC and closed Jagger down as the race progressed. Vos had Ensor-Smith in his sights too, but neither would get their man as Jagger Robertson clinched the 2024 South African Formula 1600 title with the win from Malemela, Ensor-Smith and Vos. 

Bezuidenhout ended fourth from Ribeiro and a fighting Mankonkwana, Holtzhausen, Khoza and Polome, who slipped behind the Formula Ford Kents after going off trying to defend against Mankonkwana. Nicholas van Weely and Ian Schofield banged wheels in their dice for that Kent lead as Nick ultimately held Ian off for the win. Duncan Vos and Ron van Weely were next up.

Karabo Malemela made a perfect race 2 start as he and KC Ensor-Smith out-dragged Alex Vos, with new champion Jagger Robertson fourth. Ian Schofield got ahead of Nicholas van Weely in the Kents when the safety car came out to clean up spinner Mohlahlo. That allowed his rivals to close Malemela’s sizeable lead down. Karabo wasted no time to open it up again once racing resumed, while Robertson was all over Vos in their fight for third. And van Weely was back on Schofield’s case in the Kents.

Vos then shook Robertson off and made off after Ensor-Smith, whom he soon dealt with. Robertson took advantage and also pounced on KC, with Shrien Naidoo now on Ensor-Smith’s case. That’s however how it stayed, as Karabo Malemela took his maiden win in the last-ever Investchem Formula 1600 race. Vos was second from Robertson. Ensor-Smith, Naidoo, Bezuidenhout, Ribeiro, Holtzhausen, Mankonkwana, Polome and Khoza.

Malemela also took the overall win for the day from Robertson and Vos. Ian Schofield fended Nick van Weely, Duncan Vos and Ron van Weely off in the Kents. But van Weely had done enough to take the day from Schofield and Duncan Vos.

So, Jagger Robertson is the final Investchem Formula 1600 champion. He wins R200,000 and a South African Touring Cars test. Second man KC Ensor Smith, takes R100,000 home, and Jason Coetzee, who did not race the final round, nets fifty grand for third. Karabo Malemela’s excellent weekend of pole, a win, a second, and fastest lap saw him vault from seventh to a provisional fourth in the championship. From Alex Vos,  Shrien Naidoo and the hapless Siya Mankonkwana, who slipped from fourth to seventh.

So also ends a 55-year run of a Ford-powered junior single seater championship in South Africa, since Formula Ford started in 1969. In its third year, the Formula Ford Driver to Europe award saw Jody Scheckter off on an international career that would see him become South Africa’s only Formula 1 World Champion in ’79. Formula Ford also launched countless other SA drivers’ careers, including Ian Scheckter, Roy Klomfass, Graham Duxbury, Bernard Tilanus to name just a handful, over the years.

Formula Ford became Formula 1600 in 2011, albeit still powered by Ford 1600 cc engines. It too ignited the careers of many of SA’s current crop of leading drivers, including Robert Wolk, Julian van der Watt, Stuart White and Andrew Rackstraw. Now it’s all change for 2025, with the start of the bright new Investchem MSA4 era, racing a new breed of safer, halo-equipped Volkswagen turbo 3-cylinder powered cars. And ready to deliver the next generation of South African motor racing champions.