Delmas, Mpumalanga. Youngster Leyton Fourie took one giant leap as he moves closer to earning one of South Africa’s most coveted titles in motorsport, while the battle at the top of the Global Touring Car (GTC) SupaCup category intensifies after eventful racing at the Red Star Raceway near Delmas.
It was a perfect weekend for Leyton Fourie who took a full house of points shortly after celebrating his sixteenth birthday. The championship points leader extended his lead over his nearest title rivals as he claimed all the points that were on offer for the weekend. “This was just unbelievable,” said Fourie shortly after winning the second race of the day. “I knew we had good pace and our aim was to try and win both races, but we also got a little lucky.” Fourie put his Polo on pole position during Friday’s qualifying session, then proceeded to draw the lucky number one during the draw to determine the starting order for the second race, and then followed it up with two flag to flag victories while setting the fastest lap time in both races.
Fourie’s title rival, Arnold Neveling could only manage sixth place in each of the races which means he is losing touch with the championship points leader. Besides Fourie dominating proceedings, the drive of the day probably belonged to Nathi Msimanga who stormed to a career-best second place in race one. He was on course for another strong finish in race two but was forced to settle for fifth, enough to earn him the overall fourth spot on the day. A fourth and a second place finish respectively was enough to earn Clinton Bezuidenhout the second position on the day, ahead of another strong showing by Capetonian Jurie Swart. Tasmin Pepper showed she has lost none of her class as she claimed a fifth and fourth place finish in her first Polo Cup race meeting in almost three years. “It was great weekend’s racing with most of the usual suspects making an appearance near the top of the standings,” commented Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “There were however a few performances that really stood out such as Leyton’s dominance on the day. It was also really rewarding to see how far Nathi has come in a short space of time.”
Volkswagen Motorsport’s Jonathan Mogotsi found himself at the centre of the action in the hotly contested Global Touring Cars (GTC) SupaCup series. The Volkswagen driver is involved in a tough championship battle with defending champion Bradley Liebenberg. While these two had each other in their sights, debutant Keegan Campos and Jeffrey Kruger had their own plans on the day with Kruger claiming pole position during the Friday qualifying session. The former Polo Cup champion then delivered a faultless performance to claim a flag to flag victory over Liebenberg and Mogotsi with Campos just missing out on a podium position and ahead of another debutant in the form of Cristiano Morgado. The reverse grid for race two provided Campos with an opportunity to fight for a maiden victory, and that was all he needed as he took the checkered flag 10 laps later. This time, it was Mogotsi who came through to finish second, just ahead of rival Liebenberg and race one winner Kruger. A second and third place finish each for Liebenberg and Mogotsi respectively means that status quo remains at the top of the championship points table with Liebenberg still holding on to a seven point lead.
The next an penultimate round of both these championship fights is scheduled to take place on 22 and 23 October at the Zwartkops Raceway to the west of Pretoria.
