Dunlop Motorsport’s weekend highlight was without doubt the season opening Extreme Festival at Killarney, which treated an enthusiastic crowd to spectacular racing in perfect late summer conditions. The weekend started especially well for the fastest drivers in each of SA’s three premier tin-top racing series, when Global Touring Car champion Robert Wolk, returning GTC Supacup star Keagan Masters and Compcare Polo Cup young gun Giordano Lupini each grabbed the respective class’ Dunlop Pole Position Awards.
The action started Friday evening, first with qualifying and then Superpole for the Dunlop-shod Compcare Polo Cup gang. Angri Racing lad Tate Bishop pipped Bullion IT duo Giordano Lupini and Jurie Swart to the quickest time in a local 1-2-3. Charl Visser, Dawie van der Merwe and Nathi Msimanga joined them in the top-6 Superpole shootout. But it was Lupini who pipped Bishop and Swart to top Superpole in a gripping shootout to grab his first R2,500 Dunlop pole position award in his maiden Superpole outing. The three of them were split by just six-hundredths of a second!
Robert Wolk then took a comfortable first Global Touring Car pole position of 2022 aboard his Chemical Logistics Toyota Corolla on Saturday morning. He beat returning Volkswagen Motorsport Golf GTC duo Daniel Rowe and Jonathan Mogotsi to the top slot and that Dunlop Pole Position Award. It was close in GTC SupaCup, where Perfect Circle lad Keagan Masters took pole from Universal duo Jeffrey Kruger and Leyton Fourie, the three of them also hundredths of a second apart. Wolk and Masters were delighted to pick up their R2,500 Dunlop Pole Position Awards too.
In the races, Wolk took the first GTC win, before Julian van der Watt’s Investchem Ford Focus GTC held Wolk at bay in a dramatic reverse grid second race, as Wolk won the day. Overall winner Masters and Kruger shared the SupaCup wins in two just as dramatic races. Swart took the first two Polo Cup wins, from Bishop and Lupini in heat 1, and from van der Merwe and Visser in heat 2. Bishop led overall winner Swart and Lupini home in the final. GTC and Polo Cup race exclusively on Dunlop tyres, with each overall winner also taking a Dunlop trophy home.
Also at Killarney, Cape Town scribe Ashley Oldfield won both Toyota Gazoo Yaris Media Challenge races on Dunlop racing tyres. And elsewhere over the weekend, the Australian V8 Supercars raced on the same tyres as the South African Global Touring Cars. Shane van Ginsbergen used a three-stop tyre strategy to win the opening round in Sydney, while Chaz Mostert, whose parents hail from SA, snatched the damp final in a Holden double. And on two wheels, Celestino Vietti dominated Moto2 and Andrea Migno won Moto3 at the Qatar Moto Grand Prix.
All three of South Africa’s premier racing series, Global Touring Cars, GTC Supacup and Compcare Polo Cup race exclusively on Dunlop tyres. Dunlop is also the tyre of choice in the super competitive Pabar Gauteng Volkswagen and Cape Alert Engine Parts GTi Challenges, and in the upcountry Lotus Challenge and Superhatch Series. The Australian Supercars, Moto 2 and Moto 3 are among the many international race series that also race on Dunlop tyres.
Dunlop provides full trackside tyre service at all Extreme Festival races through ATS Motorsport, which handles the fitment, balancing and preparation of tyres across the GTC and Polo Cup grid. Dunlop utilises the same technology, research, development and key learnings from its global motorsport programs in manufacturing the tyres you drive on every day. Dunlop’s motorsport heritage, innovation, performance, safety and durability give you the confidence and an advantage on the road.
Issued by Motorsport Media on behalf of Dunlop Motorsport
