Summarize

There will be more than just a little honour at stake when the 2024 South African Rotax Max National Karting Championships penultimate round goes down at the Formula K Kart Raceway in Benoni, Gauteng on Saturday 6 July. The weekend sets up the South African championships for the Zwartkops SA finals in August. 

Reigning champion Sebastian Boyd has already booked his premier class Rotax DD2 gearbox ticket to Italy. But then he’s not quite at the sharp end of that title chase, where the fight for National honours and that second Grand Finals seat is going down between Cape lad Jason Coetzee and Jozi’s multiple champion, Bradley Liebenberg. Don’t rule Boyd out from a come behind title hat trick though, nor Zwartkops winner Jamie Smith, while Karabo Malemlela and Nicolaos Vostanis are also in with an outside shot at glory.

South Africa’s Rotax Max King Cristiano Morgado is right back in the frame to steal the DD2 Masters title and join Bjorn Roos in Italy. But is it too tall a task to steal that seat from ever-improving Capetonian Jared Jordan? Time will tell, but never rule regular Grand Final qualifier and Morgado’s KZN compatriot  Jonathan Pieterse, Justin Rogers, or Mozambican Cristian Bouché out of this one.

Senior Max is all about who will join reigning champion and Open winner Charl Michael Visser In Italy. If Muhammad Wally’s form was anything to go by at Zwartkops last time out, that Gauteng driver may be difficult to stop from racing alongside his old Cape rival in those ‘Olympics of Karting’. Both of them must first dispose of a healthy field of hot young guns including Kent Swarts, Luca Wehrli, Jonno Wilson, Mauro Da Luz, and Roshaan Goodman, to tack that title down.

Junior Max Open winner William Marshall is already locked and loaded for Italy. And who joins him out of this superbly close-run high school pack is impossible to predict. Just rest assured that he or she will come out of Kegan Martin, Luke Hill, Keagan Beaumont or one of two most capable young lady kart racers. Gianna Pascoal or Georgia Lenaerts would make a most welcome return for the fairer sex to the SA Grand Finals teams, where several local lasses have shone in the results over the years.

Wildcard Emirates-based South African Open winner Aaryan Singh is confirmed as one under 13 Mini Max green and gold Grand Final representative. Which means it will have to be the South African champion who joins him. There are several able candidates for that honour, so it’s all down to Formula K to see who will walk away with the title and the ticket in their back pocket. They include Rafael de Sousa, Tshepang Shisinwana, Brodi Dowling, Max Boshoff Ruvan and Durelle Goodman among over 20 capable candidates.

Matthew Shuttleworth, Adriaan Steyn, Liam Wharton, Michael O'Mahoney, Luhan de Wet and wildcard former Bambino champion Noah Cronje are among the under-11 challengers chasing national championship glory. That added bonus of the Micro Max Grand Finals ticket to race against the best in the world in Italy is a huge additional carrot too. 

The baby Bambinos do not race in the Grand Finals, but the champion still earns a ticket to go watch those ‘Olympics of Karting’. To take notes for future use. Cape kid Radhi Harris appears in pole position to take that title, but he still needs to beat the likes of Aston Verheul and Alonzo De Oliveira, Sebastien Shuttleworth and home rivals Caleb Lingeveldt and Russell Josephat to earn that honour.

All of which makes this weekend’s Formula K 2024 Rotax Max Karting Finals another pretty important affair as SA’s best fight it out for the most important prizes in local karting. And that promises a guaranteed day of the closest and most exciting racing imaginable. Diarise it now!