The 2026 Northern Regions Extreme Festival is set for more than just a great day’s racing when the ATS Zwartkops 200 races well into the evening at the Pretoria racetrack on Saturday 13 June. The endurance race for Digit FMS 111 GT & Saloons racing with SuperHatch will close off a splendid and varied day of racing that includes thundering Dunlop V8 Supercars, cracking ATE VW Challenge, packed BMW M Performance Parts races, and entertaining DOE Formula Vees.
The weekend highlight has to be the 200 kilometre ATS 200 at the end of the day following an eight lapper as well as two regular Digit FMS 111 heats. A busy 111 day, it could well shake up the championship where Jared Rossouw and Marius Truter’s Polos, Mark du Toit’s BMW Z4M lead the GTA way and Wouter Roos’ Golf GTI and Wayne Robb’s Focus ST top GTB. Also watch for Charl Weyers Class A Corsa, Piet Potgieter’s Class B Golf and Louis Scholz’s C Civic, Arthur Thorne’s Polo, Karel Stolts’ Etios and Hendrik Venter’s Corsa in SuperHatch.
Thomas Reib is the man to beat in the Dunlop V8 Supercars after a double victory in his Corvette at Zwartkops, but Terry Wilford and Warren Lombard’s Mustangs did the winning at Red Star last time out. Ever consistent Sam Dahl and his Falcon sit a steady fourth ahead of the omnipresent Ford Falcon man Larry Wilford, who raced the first ever V8 Supercar race in 1996 and has never really left. Others to watch for include Franco di Matteo and Wayne Spicer’s Jaguars and another veteran, Steve Herbst’s Corvette.
It’s just as intriguing in the ATE VW Challenge where rookies Josh Moore and Chris Tait have won all four races between them so far but the consistent Anthony Lessing splits the youngsters in the chase. Francis Aldrich, Ian Walker, and Stuart Mack also loom large in Class A. Sebastian Bouillart may not have won a heat yet, but he leads Class B. Fellow freshmen, Keegan Nathan and Keyaan Dwomoh and Jonathan Koning have done the winning with Chris Davison right in there too. Bryce Pillay leads Brat Pack Class C, but he still has Stuart Konig and Dimitri Zapheriou on his case.
Anton Pommersheim has taken clear advantage of the BMW M Performance Parts Series Turbo Cup Class A, where Kashen Naicker and Lee Thompson have also won races and Lenard Archer and Nishal Singh lead the chase. Reiner Smth is in charge of Class B, while its close between Bennie Luyt, Anand Naidu, Wessel Mostert and Oz Biagioni in Class C. The naturally aspirated BMWs race separately, where Andre van Vuuren, Ignus du Plessis, Olerato Sekudu and Richard Gerntholtz are fighting over Class B. Reinhardt Miller and Nicholas Herbt are the men to beat in Classes C and D.
Lendl Jansen may have taken advantage of a double win last time out at Red Star to move into the DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Fuel championship lead, but that does not mean his rivals will just roll over to get their tummies tickled. Zwartkops opening round race winners Gert van der Berg and Brandon Hills are still close behind, while Theodore Vermaak, Brandon’s brother Vaughn, and veteran dad Peter Hills, Jaco Schriks and Marcel Blignaut, among others are also out to get them.
There’s certainly something for everyone at Zwartkops this Saturday with qualifying from 8am before racing starts at eleven and runs all the way into the night with the ATS 200 ending around 7pm. Sounds like a special way to spend your Saturday – see you there!
