Summarize

Most Dunlop-shod 2025 Gauteng Northern Regions Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola titles seem set to deliver grandstand finishes, if the championship logs following Saturday’s away races at the East London Grand Prix Circuit are anything to go by.

Remember last time out when Thomas Reib stole the Dunlop V8 Supercars advantage after title rival Warren Lombard retired? Well, the pendulum swung back in Lombard’s direction when Reib missed the points after a first race problem and Warren won the final heat. That’s re-ignited the championship battle with Reib now only at a six-point advantage. Both were however humbled, when Larry Wilford clearly had the right oats for breakfast, took the Dunlop Pole Position, and sped to the first two heat winds to play himself back into albeit distant title contention. Alan Ryan and leader Auke Compaan shared out the GT2 wins.

Racing on Dunlop tyres, the ATE VW Challenge table is tighter than ever with just two points between the top three. Class C young gun Adriaan de Beer still leads the way from class rival Bryce Pillay, who closed the deficit down to just a point with Dunlop Pole Position and another two heat wins in East London. Class B leader Stuart Mack was also beaten for the first time, so he drops to a single point behind Pillay after hero of the day Francis Aldrich not only stole the Dunlop Pole Position and the bonus point that goes with I, but he also beat Mack to the second heat Class B win. Class A was all about young Jayden Goosen in East London.

Moving on to Dunlop-shod DOE Formula Vee, Lendl Jansen started with another win en route to what seems an inevitable 2025 crown. His progress was however delayed when Theodore Vermaak added another two wins to his previous race win. And then before all that, Gert van den Berg stole the Dunlop Pole Position to leave Jansen in an almost indomitable 51-point championship advantage. Ahead of an almighty scrap for second between van den Berg, Vaughn, and Peter Hills and the rapidly closing Vermaak with a race win worth of points between them and four races left to run.

Class A leader Leon Loubser ran unopposed on his Dunlops to win both BMW M Performance Parts races, but B man Renier Smith had to work to consolidate his overall advantage with second and a third in the heats. Class C leader Salvi Gualtieri is now under pressure from Nishal Singh, who chased effective double class winner Anand Naidu all the way. In the smaller classes, Andre van Vuuren put Class D leader Bernard De Gouveia under pressure with a win and a second, while Karabo Malemela won a heat and was second in another to slightly open his advantage over Eddie Rodrigues. Zaheer Seedat was unaffected by Kyan Boodaya winning both F heats from Shriyav Naidu.

“Our Northern Regions Extreme Festival championships emerged far tighter after a thrilling weekend of away racing at the East London Grand Prix Circuit,” Dunlop Tyres Marketing Manager Joanne de Freitas concludes. “Congratulations to the Dunlop Pole and race winners. Now we look forward to thrilling action with most class championships set to go right down to the wire!”

Dunlop Motorsport heads to Killarney next for the penultimate round of the National Extreme Festival in the Cape on Saturday 13 September, before Regional Festival returns closer to Gauteng for round 6 at the Red Star Raceway Saturday 4 October.