Summarize

Chemical Logistics Racing remains unbeaten in South African Touring Cars in 2026. Championship leader Julian van der Watt took Saturday’s feature race before a delighted Andrew Schofield romped to a maiden, lights to flag reverse grid second race victory at Zwartkops Raceway’s third round National Extreme Festival. 

“This weekend was a special one for us,” a proud team principal Ian Schofield admitted. “I have a special vested interest in Andrew’s career, so to see him deliver a brilliant lights to flag first victory on Saturday is a moment to cherish. I trust this will awaken a hunger for much more success for Andy going forward. Of course it was also a great day all round for both squads at the races as Julian won again to consolidate his advantage in race 1 and Andrew, KC, Robert, Julian, and Keegan made it a team 1-2-3-4-5 in race 2. For whatever reason, I’m really enjoying this season. Brilliant work team!”

It was a very special day for the gentleman of the SATC paddock. Andrew Schofield drove a steady heat 1 to claim pole position for the reverse grid race. He then withstood huge pressure to deliver a perfect lights to flag win in his FlySafair Chemical Logistics FAST BMW 128ti. “I’m a national race winner at last!” Andy beamed. “It’s been a long eleven year slog, so a massive thank you to my dad for making it all possible, to my own and my racing families for the constant support, and to Freddie Pretorius and the FAST team for persevering and giving me a mega car. Now for that feature race win!”

Julian van der Watt was similarly delighted with his race 1 and overall win to consolidate his championship lead in his freshly liveried We Buy Cars Investchem WCT Volkswagen Golf GTI. “That was another brilliant day and the perfect welcome to our new sponsor, We Buy Cars,” Julian admitted. “The difference this year, is that we’ve had a clean run so far, so the plan is to keep up this great momentum. A huge word of thanks to Stuart Thompson and the WCT team for a great car and well done to Andy on that great win!”

Third overall at Zwartkops, Keegan Campos was third in the opening heat and fifth in race 2 aboard his Campos Veloce Chemical Logistics FAST BMW 128ti. “We struggled a bit for pace and that reflected in my qualifying fifth,” Keegan pondered. “So I had to fight back to third. I slipped to the back in the reverse grid first lap argy-bargy and had to fight back again to fifth, so third for the day wasn’t too bad an outcome. Well done to my FAST BMW teammate on a great win and thanks to the lads for a great effort as always. 

While he may have placed better with a fourth and a third, Robert Wolk’s time deficit to Campos saw his Chemical Logistics WCT Volkswagen Golf GTI end fourth overall. “We qualified too far back in fifth and that had an effect on the rest of the day,” Robert explained. “It’s taking a bit of time to get right back on it after my sabbatical, but I have a great team around me in Stuart and the guys, so I’m sure that we will soon be back where we need to be.”

The vagaries of the scoring even further afflicted KC Ensor-Smith and his brightly re-liveried African Heating Investchem WCT Volkswagen Golf GTI. Running fourth early on, KC dropped behind Campos and Wolk before benefiting a rival stopping to end fifth. The youngster then delivered a fine run as he kept Schofield under pressure all the way to come home a close second in race 2. “My result may not fully represent my day, but race 2 went very well and we were able to consolidate my strong championship position. Thanks to the team for a great car once again.”

Chemical Logistics Racing runs five South African Touring Cars. Its three Volkswagen Golf GTIs are prepared by WCT Engineering at Kyalami, while FAST Racing operates the team’s two BMW 128tis from Zwartkops. The team heads to the Eastern Cape next for South African Touring Cars’ midseason outing at the Aldo Scribante racetrack in Gqeberha.