Summarize

SSaturday, 12 April is a huge day for Dunlop Racing, when nine of ten classes compete exclusively on Dunlop racing tyres and most of the tenth class also race on Dunlop at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit’s Blockbuster National and Regional Extreme Festival presented by Coca Cola.

“The Kyalami Blockbuster Extreme Festival is massive for Dunlop,” Dunlop National Marketing Manager Joanne de Freitas explains. “In fact, it’s our biggest ever South African race day! Of  ten classes racing on the day, nine of them run exclusively on Dunlop. It’s a huge tribute to our philosophy that racing not only proves Dunlop tyres beyond any doubt, but racing also improves the Dunlop breed.

“So to have every National Class and most all Regional classes racing on Dunlop at Kyalami is a huge matter of honour and a proud moment for us. It’s also a huge logistical challenge as we now have the interests of every single competitor at hand so the Dunlop ATS Race Service Team will be on its toes at Kyalami!”

Looking at the National races at Kyalami next weekend, the big news is the arrival of the new Investchem MSA4 premier single seater class, which has made a massive huge effort to have fourteen brand new cars ready to race. “Dunlop is delighted to welcome Investchem MSA4 to the fold,” Joanne de Freitas confirmed. “The premier single seater class now completes a full lineup of Dunlop-shod National circuit racing classes.”

The rest of the National classes at Kyalami include the Extreme SuperCars driven by Dunlop, the South African Touring Cars and SATC SupaCup, Astron Energy Polo Cup and the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup. They will be joined by the top five Northern Regions classes on the big day, including the Dunlop V8 Supercars, ATE VW Challenge, BMW M Performance Parts Race Series, DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Lubricants and Ferro Energia 111 GT Sports & Saloons including SuperHatch.

Being Investchem MSA4’s first race, that form book must still be opened. But judging on the old Formula 1600 form, we expect the race to be between the likes of KC Ensor-Smith, Alex Vos, Karabo Malemela and Shrien Naidoo, with veteran Rick Morris in for good measure. It’s beat rookie Brad Liebenberg ad his Audi in the Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop and rest assured that Charl Arangies’ all-new Porsche 911 GT3, Jonathan du Toit’s Lamborghini Huracan, Kris Budnik’s Viper and a grid full of the most extreme supercars plan to do just that on Saturday.  

It’s all change in Dunlop shod South African Touring Cars, where leader Anthony Pretorius has headed abroad to be replaced by Keegan Campos in the BMW. Saood Variawa and Nathi Msimanga are back alongside Michael van Rooyen at GR Toyota, with Julian van der Watt and F1600 champion, rookie Jagger Robertson in the VW Golf GTIs. It’s a matter of revenge in SupaCup after Cape home heroes Tate Bishop and Charl Visser beat Volkswagen duo Jonathan Mogotsi and Jason Loosemore, and Toyota lad Dawie van der Merwe in Cape Town last time. 

And its super close between Mo Karodia, Ethan Coetzee, Hannes Scheepers and Rory Atkinson in Astron Energy Polo Cup, and also between Wayne Masters, John Kruger, and Derik Smalberger in the Masters. Moving over to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup, who can beat Jason Coetzee in the rookie 86s, Devon Scott in the dealer Corollas and Nabil Abdool among the Yaris media men? 

In the Regional classes, it’s all about Warren Lombard and Ben Morgenrood Mustangs, Thomas Reib’s Lumina and GT2 men Antonie Marx’s Holden and rookie Wayne Spicer’s Jaguar in the thundering Dunlop V8 Supercars. The BMW M Performance Parts Race Series has Bob Neill and Leon Loubser fighting over Class A, Nek Makris, Renier Smith and Andreas Meier tussling in B and Salvi Gualtieri, Oz Biagioni and Hein van der Merwe in Class C. A separate race will see Paolo Cavalieri, Claudio Jardim and Shaun Dodd defending Class honour in D, E and F.

Teenager Jayden Goosen takes on veteran Wayne Masters in the ATE VW Challenge, where two more older men, Stuart Mack and Mitch Coetzee hold sway in Classes B and C. Champion Lendl Jansen and MD Bester continue their DOE Formula Vee fight with Peter and Vaughn Hills, Gert van den Berg, Kyle Watt and the rest. All of the above of course, all racing on Dunlop tyres. Last but not least, George Economides’ wild Golf Turbo, Mark du Toit’s BMW Z4, Wayne Robb’s Focus ST and an eclectic lot will fight for Ferro Energia 111 honours, with Lenard Archer’s Getz, Tyron Pillay’s Golf and Keagan Nathan and Melanie Spurr’s Polos tussling in SuperHatch.

“The Blockbuster Extreme Festival is South Africa’s biggest circuit racing weekend of the season and a huge day for Dunlop too,” Joanne de Freitas concludes. “With practice rounds taking place on Thursday and Friday, qualifying Friday afternoon and wall to wall racing and entertainment all day Saturday, this is not one to be missed. See you at Kyalami!”