Summarize

As it always is, Dunlop was the tyre of choice at the Aldo Scribante Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola at Nelson Mandela Bay over the past weekend. All of which brought some interesting changes to the various national racing championships. 

“The chase remains on in the South African Touring Cars championship, while we have two drivers shining in the SATC SupaCup and Astron Energy Polo Cup chases,” Dunlop Marketing Manager Joanne de Freitas explains. It’s much closer again in the Volkswagen Rookie Cup, but then there are definite trends in the various Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup classes. 

“Dunlop salutes our championship leaders, race and prize winners as we look forward to the rest of what’s promising to be a season of great intrigue going forward!”

The weekend started with South African Touring Cars driver Keegan Campos, SATC SupaCup championship leader Tate Bishop and Astron Energy Polo Cup lad Mo Karodia snatching their respective Dunlop Pole Position cash awards in qualifying. The day then delivered cracking action to thrill Gqeberha race fans with top drawer racing entertainment throughout.

While he has not yet won a race in 2025, Michael van Rooyen consolidated his South African Touring Cars title advantage aboard his Dunlop shod GR Corolla with a third feature race second place on the trot and a reverse grid fourth in spite of a little penalty at Nelson Mandela Bay. That saw Michael increase his title lead to fifteen points over Jagger Robertson’s, who has likewise not yet won a race in his Chemical Logistics Golf. 

Rookie Jagger’s perseverance paid off however, as he stole vital points in a tough Aldo outing to stave off a come from behind Keegan Campos. Keegen rose to third in the chase following another solid haul in the Campos BMW, despite missing the opening round. Behind him, Julian van der Watt ‘s up and down season in the second Volkswagen Golf has been good enough to fend off another double-winning latecomer, Saood Variawa’s GR Corolla for fourth.

Tate Bishop delivered another faultless performance at Aldo Scribante. His second grand slam aboard his Angri SuperPolo after Killarney in April extends Tate’s all-Dunlop SATC SupaCup advantage over Jonathan Mogotsi to a sizeable 25 points. Factory VW driver Mogotsi has Charl Visser all over his behind, with consistent Nicolaos Vostanis some way back in his duel with Dawie van der Merwe’s lone Toyota GR SuperStarlet, VW rookie Jason Loosemore, racing lass Karah Hill and newcomer Muhammad Wally.

Unbeaten at Aldo, Mohammed Karodia had to work for his Dunlop-shod Astron Energy Polo Cup wins. Mo opened his title advantage to 23 points over the struggling Ethan Coetzee, who benefited most behind him also not having PE weekends to write home about. Rory Atkinson sits third in the chase from racing lass Tyler Robinson, Shiren Rajpaul, VW rookie Judd Bertholdt and Hannes Scheepers all covered by just five points. Wayne Masters controls Astron Energy Masters over John Kruger and Derick Smalberger.

Sophomore Uzair Khan’s consistent form in the Dunlop-shod Volkswagen Rookie Cup sees him into a five-point championship advantage over maiden winner at home at Aldo, Josh Moore. He’s fighting  Mauro Da Luz and Giovanni Fiorotto in their tight five-point spat for second. It’s a case of domination in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup, where Jason Coetzee has a significant GR86 Rookie Cup advantage, Mario de Sousa is in charge in the GR Corolla Dealer Cup and Nabil Abdool remains unbeaten in the New GR Yaris Media Trophy, all of them also racing on Dunlop Tyres.

The Dunlop-shod Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola heads to its midwinter midseason encounter next at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on the shortest day of 2025, Saturday 21 June.