Summarize

Giordano Lupini lived out a lifelong dream when he steered his Billion IT Racing Volkswagen to a stunning maiden CompCare Polo Cup victory off an incredible pole position at Saturday’s Killarney Extreme Festival races. In an overall great weekend for Bullion IT Racing, teammate Jurie Swart overcame a wretched build-up as he fought back to keep his Polo Cup championship hopes on target heading to Zwartkops’ October triple header finale.

Bullion IT Racing’s home race was however about Polo Cup rookie Giordano Lupini, who showed sublime pace when he topped all three of Friday’s practice sessions. He then sneaked into Superpole to take an incredible pole position, his second of the season. Gio was first to go out in what would prove a legendary Superpole session as while four of them came within five-hundredths of a second, none of his rivals could topple the red Bullion IT Polo from pole position. From there, Lupini delivered a masterful lights-to-flag maiden victory.

“Today was the culmination of a lifelong dream,” Giordano admitted. “We fought so hard to get into Polo Cup and to crown it with this win less than a year later is a huge achievement for us.” Gio made a perfect start to get ahead and while he was under huge pressure throughout, his pursuers could not come close enough to make a difference while Gio added a new lap record as he raced to the flag. “Those last few laps were nerve wracking!” Giordano admitted.

“Today was also the perfect race for us to win – most of our rivals had taken new engines for this weekend and as far as I know ours is still the car’s 2018 original!” Giordano explained. “We sat down as a team, my dad suggested we try a few different ideas that he swore by to win races back in the day and the team put a huge effort into getting everything spot on for race weekend. “We were never the fastest car in a straight line, but my red Bullion IT Polo was perfect throughout testing, practice and into race weekend. “I can only thank my race engineer Nian du Toit, Chase Herholdt in the NDT shop and my dad for that!

“Winning in the CompCare Polo Cup is the zenith of over a decade of hard work and dedication. “A couple years ago I thought I’d never race again let alone win at national level, so this all feels quite surreal. “But we believed today would come and fought back, often against all odds and here we are. “I have won in Polo Cup and this really is a dream come true! “Massive thank you to my parents, to Clive, Johan, and Bullion IT for making it happen, and to every one of our contingency sponsors, fans and supporters. “We truly hope we have done you proud and that this is only the start of great things to come. “Let’s go get a few more at Zwartkops!

“I dedicate my first Polo Cup win to our friend, neighbour, and backer and one of our greatest supporters, Malcolm Preston. “Malcolm so sadly and unexpectedly passed away two weeks ago. “This one is for you, sir.”

Killarney proved more of a challenge for Jurie Swart and his blue Bullion IT Polo. “First off, congratulations to my teammate – I am so proud of you Giordano!” Jurie said. “Getting back to my weekend, of all the races for the car to test us, it was our home weekend at Killarney! “Despite our best efforts, we were off the pace through practice and into qualifying and today was the first time this season we did not make the top six Superpole. “So, special thanks to the team for all the effort to slowly turn the car around through race day. “That allowed me to score some solid points and another podium to keep within a point of the tied championship leaders with just the three Zwartkops races to run. 

“This one’s going down to the line again, but there will be two Bullion IT Racing cars in the thick of it at Zwartkops and we cannot wait – bring it on!” 

“We are absolutely delighted with and so proud of Giordano’s maiden victory and Bullion IT Racing’s fourth win of the 2022 CompCare Polo Cup season,” Bullion IT CEO Clive Strover concluded. “It’s getting nerve wracking now, with both Bullion IT cars heading to the Zwartkops finale in the CompCare Polo Cup top six and Jurie right in the mix, so that’s going to be Mega day at the races!”

Jurie Swart heads to Zwartkops one point off the Polo Cup championship lead and one of three drivers within a point. Top first year driver Giordano goes to Pretoria sixth in the chase and still capable of an albeit unlikely title strike in what would be the perfect storm.