Summarize

Volkswagen Motorsport’s SupaCup Polo reeled off its second 2023 South African Endurance Series Class D victory on the trot in the Red Star 3 Hour in Delmas on Saturday. Daniel Rowe and Graeme Nathan led the production car category from start to finish.

Rowe qualified second in class, but it was Nathan who started the race and seized the lead on the opening lap, after which the team never looked back. “We were not the quickest car in class today as qualifying and the lap times show, but we moved ahead on lap 1 and stayed there throughout,” Daniel reported. 

“Our Volkswagen Motorsport SupaCup Polo ran perfectly throughout, and the team delivered a great stop to help us cruise home fifth overall for an easy class win after our main rivals hit trouble early on. We look forward to making some improvements in the next round, as we used a standard SupaCup car this weekend while our regular car is prepared for this weekend’s Simola Hillclimb in Knysna.

Veteran driver Graeme Nathan replaced Keagan Masters at Red Star as Masters had international commitments. “It was great to be back racing again and an absolute pleasure to drive the SupaCup Polo in anger,” Graeme, who normally runs the Volkswagen Motorsport race team admitted. “Best of all, this car is specially developed to race SupaCup sprints, so these endurance results are all the more impressive.”

“Volkswagen Motorsport had another great South African Endurance Series outing at Red Star,” Head of Mike Rowe concluded. “One of the main reasons we enter these races is to showcase just how versatile our SupaCup Polo can be. 

“Karah Hill and Jurie Swart also put in an impressive performance in their Polo Endurance car but they had a small issue which cost them a few laps and left them playing catch-up for the rest of the race. Our next endurance outing is the midwinter SAES Phakisa 3 Hour in Welkom, where we will be chasing a 2023 hat trick. See you there!”