South African Touring Car (SATC) championship continues this weekend, with Round 2 of the 2024 season taking place at the iconic Kyalami Grand Prix circuit in Gauteng. The opening round of the season brought mixed results for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA, who fields three cars in the premier SATC class, as well as one entry in the SupaCup class.
Defending champion, Saood Variawa, currently leads the charge for TGRSA. With that said, he is tied with teammate Nathi Msimanga on 20 points – ten shots back from early championship leader, Robert Wolk (BMW). Michael van Rooyen, in the third SATC Toyota Corolla, is just three points adrift, with 17 points in the bag. Toyota tops the Manufacturer’s Championship at present.
The season started with an action-packed event at the Killarney International Circuit in Cape Town, where plenty of on-track incidents kept the crowd on their feet. Now, the action moves to arguably the best-known race circuit in South Africa, the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.
In the SupaCup championship, which is run concurrently with the SATC races, Bradley Liebenberg represented TGRSA in the so-called SupaStarlet, and will do so again at Kyalami. Liebenberg, who is an experienced racer, bagged a total of 20 points during the opening weekend, to tie for fourth place on the log. He’ll be hoping to improve on this position at Kyalami this weekend.
This weekend’s Extreme Festival kicks of with preliminary practice sessions on Thursday, followed by qualifying on Friday and two races on Saturday. Most of the action will take place on Saturday, and TGRSA fans are encouraged to attend the event, where the GR Cup drivers will also be in action.
SATC STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1
| 1. Robert Wolk | 30 |
| 2. Saood Variawa | 20 |
| 3. Nathi Msimanga | 20 |
| 4. Julian van der Watt | 20 |
| 5. Anthony Pretorius | 17 |
| 6. Michael van Rooyen | 16 |
| 7. Andrew Schofield | 10 |
SATC MANUFACTURER STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1
| 1. Toyota | 47 |
| 2. BMW | 37 |
| 3. Volkswagen | 18 |
SUPACUP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1
| 1. Keegan Campos | 36 |
| 2. Jonathan Mogotsi | 35 |
| 3. Charl Visser | 34 |
| 4. David Franco | 20 |
| 5. Bradley Liebenberg | 20 |
| 6. Tate Bishop | 12 |
| 7. Karah Hill | 12 |
| 8. Dean Venter | 8 |
| 9. Nathan Hammond | 7 |
| 10. Nicolaos Vostanis | 6 |
