For Brad Liebenberg, the trip down to sea level at Aldo Scribante Racetrack this coming weekend (May 27-28) could not be more symbolic of where he finds himself on the points table heading into the third round of the Global Touring Cars (GTC) Championship.
The reigning GTC SupaCup Champion stepped into the premier category at the start of 2022. Backed by Hype Energy Drinks South Africa, Sparco and Universal Motorsport, it has not been an easy journey so far. An incident in the opening round and some teething problems with the new Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI in Round 2 limited his points scoring. The team, however, is happy to report that they have resolved the issue and are looking forward to a competitive weekend in Gqeberha.
“We certainly need a good result this weekend,” says Liebenberg. “Coming into this season, we knew it would not be plain sailing. In fact, this is probably the lowest that I’ve been in any championship after two rounds since starting out in national circuit racing. Despite the less-than-desired start to my season, I am confident that our fortunes can change this weekend. Despite lacking the straight-line speed of the Toyotas, I usually go well at (Aldo) Scribante, and I’m looking forward to bouncing back in a big way.”
Liebenberg is no stranger to difficult starts in a new series, either. In 2017, when he joined the GTC2 field, he suffered a car-destroying accident in the Cape Town season opener before recording two points finishes in Gauteng. In Round 3, held in East London, he came back to win both races.
“If we can repeat that sort of come-back, it would certainly be the sort of push that we need. I will be realistic, though, yes, we have our first podium in the bag, but we’ll need to establish ourselves as regular frontrunners before we can start contending for wins. While I’m optimistic, let’s see what the weekend holds.”
Saturday will see Liebenberg competing in two races. The first of these will be contested over 12 laps and is scheduled to start at 12:40. Race 2 will be run over 15 laps with an expected 15:45 start. Race day will be streamed live on the Brad Liebenberg Racing Facebook page.
Issued by Motorsport Fanatix on behalf of Brad Liebenberg
