Summarize

The 2024 South African National Championship Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola kicks off at Killarney in Cape Town this Saturday 8 March. Local race fans can look forward to a thrilling day of action among the country’s leading drivers and cars.

The premier Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop are one of two classes racing three times through the day and there’s quite a bit of interest among that scintillating field. Stalwart Charl Arangies trots out his new Porsche 911 GT3 R for the first time at Killarney and he’ll be up against old rivals and Killarney favourites Franco Scribante’s wild Porsche 911 Turbo and Jonathan du Toit’s Lamborghini Huracan. Keep an eye out for former karter Shayur Harpal in a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 too.

The most interesting entry is however multiple kart, SupaCup and Polo Cup champion Bradley Liebenberg in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO. He’s up against Paul Hill and Marius Jackson’s similar cars, Ricardo Giannoccaro’s Mercedes AMG GT3, Cousin Gianni and Ant Blunden in a pair of McLaren MP4-12C GT3s. Add another Giannoccaro, Giacomo in an Audi R8 GT4, Roy Obery’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and Kris Budnik’s Dodge Viper. Cape BMW exponent Marco Retter will be up against visitors Renzo Torrente and Uli Sanne’s similar cars too. 

The South African Touring Cars starts the new season with a fresh BMW versus Toyota versus Volkswagen battle. Anthony Pretorius and Andrew Schofield’s FlySafair Chemical Logistics WCT version lead the BMW 128ti attack. Veteran Michael van Rooyen is back in his SVR Steelworks car alongside comeback kid Mandla Mdakane’s Investchem version in the Toyota Corolla camp. And local hero Julian van der Watt starts among the favourites in his Chemical Logistics WCT Volkswagen Golf GTi alongside exciting rookie Formula 1600 champion Jagger Robertson’s similar Investchem car.

Favourite, champion Jonathan Mogotsi is joined by Astron Energy Polo Cup champion Jason Loosemore in Volkswagen Motorsport’s SATC SupaCup SupaPolo lineup. They face Gazoo Racing champion Dawie van der Merwe in a lone Toyota GR SupaStarlet and a gang of privateer SupaPolos. Watch for home heroes Charl Visser, Tate Bishop and David Franco among them, and Jozi chargers Dean Venter, racing lass Karah Hill, Nicolaos Vostanis and Dylan Pragji, and Masters driver Andre Bezuidenhout too.

Previous  winners Ethan Coetzee, Rory Atkinson, Kyle Visser and Kyle Smalberger start the 2025 Astron Energy Polo Cup as the drivers to beat over three races at Killarney this weekend. Also watch for Mo Karodia, Hannes Scheepers and racing ladies Tyler Robinson and the returning Lonika Maartens. Of the newcomers, VW Rookie champion Judd Bertholdt has old rival Dhivyen Naidoo and VW Challenge upstarts, brother Bjorn, Shrien Rajpaul and Milan Emslie to deal with. Running as its own championship this year, Wayne Masters defends his Astron Polo Masters crown from Derick Smalberger and John Kruger, among others. Technical changes include a few new Polo Cup car tweaks for the new season too.

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Pieter Delport will do their best. Graeme van Breda David Veringa, James Barson and Lubabalo Ntisana are amongst the Class B chargers and Jayson Lamb, Johan Le Roux and Lionel Black, race in Class C.

Volkswagen Rookie Cup sophomores Josh Moore and Uzair Khan will be hoping that their experience will be an advantage. But with the likes of VW Challenge Class C champion Christopher Tait and former karters, Berlin Robinson, Mauro da Luz, and Luke Hill in the mix, that may be a challenge. Jason Coetzee wants to repeat what champion van der Merwe achieved last year with an unbeaten Toyota GR86 Cup run in 2025. Among his karting rivals, they will do their level best to prevent that. There’s also a new crop of media drivers in the Toyota GR Yaris Cup, and dealers in the GR Corolla League.

Pre-book discounted tickets online at Webtickets to dodge the queue at R115 for adults, R40 for scholars and kids under 12 free. The racing is supported by Killarney’s regular off-track entertainment, market stalls, kids play areas and so much more. With food and drinks aplenty and live music in the beer garden, race fans can also pack for that trackside braai. More at www.wpmc.co.za. See you at Killarney!