MIXED RESULTS FOR TGRSA MARK SATC ROUND 2 AT KYALAMI

• Victory in Race 2 for Saood Variawa
• SupaStarlet shows promising pace

Round 2 of the 2024 South African Touring Car (SATC) championship took place at the iconic Kyalami Grand Prix circuit in Gauteng. The event brought mixed results for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA’s SATC crews, though the SupaStarlet, taking part in the SupaCup, showed exceptional pace.

The weekend started with a qualifying session, where Nathi Msimanga was the fastest of the TGR drivers. The young man from Gauteng has previously shown good pace at Kyalami, where he made his debut with the team in 2023. This time, he qualified just 0.2sec off pole position, but with a highly competitive field, this placed him in fourth place on the starting grid. Michael van Rooyen went sixth-fastest, while Saood Variawa qualified in 7th despite a power steering problem.

Variawa went into Race 1 with not only new steering components, but also a car setup that clearly didn’t quite work as expected. By the time the chequered flag came out at the end of the 8-lap race, it was Van Rooyen who was the pick of the TGRSA drivers, with Variawa behind him in sixth and Msimanga, who had a disappointing race, in 7th.

Race 2 featured the traditional reverse grid, which put the three TGRSA cars at the head of the field. Having reverted to his Qualifying setup, Variawa showed why he is the defending champion, as he won the race in fine style. Van Rooyen finished in 5th place again, while Msimanga decided to retire the SATC GR Corolla after three laps due to an overheating turbo.

SupaCup

Bradley Liebenberg, who currently represents TGRSA in the so-called SupaStarlet, started his race weekend with a bang. The experienced driver set the fastest time in qualifying, and looked set for a solid points haul over the weekend. An unfortunate incident early in the first race, however, saw the TGRSA driver embroiled in an on-track incident that saw a slew of cars damaged – including the SupaStarlet.

After trying to limp the damaged car to the pits, Liebenberg was forced to retire. A valiant effort by the team saw them replace a broken suspension arm in time for Race 2, but some residual technical problems precluded Liebenberg from completing the race.

TGRSA will be hunting for better results at Round 3 of the championship, which is slated for 17 and 18 May at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria in Gauteng.

SATC STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1

 SATC MANUFACTURER STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1

SUPACUP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1