Mark your calendars for a day of high-octane regional racing at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday, 8 June, as the fourth round of the 2024 series roars to life. The Dunlop Winter Extreme Festival is not just about racing – it’s a family affair, with six racing categories, four of which are Dunlop shod, and a range of off-track activities that will keep everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, entertained.

Get ready for a nail-biting showdown in the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series, the largest category in the programme with nearly 50 entries. This event marks the fifth round of the championship, where Andreas Meier is leading the pack with an eight-point advantage over Nicholas Herbst.

Defending series champion Leon Loubser reclaimed the Class A lead in Round 4, with Fabio Fedetto, Bob Neill and Ryan Naicker all looking to challenge for the honours. Meier also leads Class B, with defending class title holder Nek Makris second and Renier Smith third, the latter on the back of a double win at Red Star Raceway. Gary Martins leads Class C from Jan Eversteyn and Hein van der Merwe, who shared Round 4s wins.

Herbst also heads up Class D but will face fierce competition from George Economides, another driver looking to continue his winning streak. Cobus Bohmer has looked impressive throughout the season, while Claudio Jardim is the most recent winner at the circuit. In Class E, Johan Miller took the lead from Zaheer Seedat, while Eddie Rodrigues would want to emulate his impressive form from earlier this year, where he won on debut.

The single-manufacturer series, with classes based on breakout times, will again have split races, with Classes A, B & C competing separately from Classes D & E.

Almost 30 cars spread across three classes means there will be action aplenty in the Dunlop-shod PABAR VW Challenge. Youngster Christopher Tait leads the overall championship standings from Mo Karodia and Stuart Mack. In the battles for class honours, Bevin Masters leads the way from brother Wayne in Class A, with Miguel Dias not far adrift.

Karodia and Mack are equal on points at the top of the Class B standings, with Shiren Rajpaul in third. Class C has a mix of youth and experience at the top of the log, with Tait leading the way from veteran Andy Gossman. Michael Zapheriou occupies third but is still recovering from his accident at Kyalami in the second round, so Judd Bertholdt should take that spot.

The third category running on Dunlop rubber is the DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Lubricants. Here, Lendl Jansen has been the pick of the field this season. He has yet to be beaten in 2024 and has opened up a 22-point gap over Peter Hills at the top of the championship standings. While Jansen starts as the favourite, a host of drivers have shown that they have the pace to run close to the head of the field, including Brandon Hills, Kyle Watt, Marcel Blignaut and Jaco Schriks.

Reigning champion Julian Fameliaris has eked out a slight advantage over Thomas Reib at the head of the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars championship log after winning both heats last time. The pair will have to fend off the attentions of Warren Lombard, who had his best outing of the season at Red Star in the third round, Terry Wilford and Franco di Matteo, if they want to extend their advantage in the GT class.

Auke Compaan leads the way in the GT2 class, but Steve Herbst and Shaun Holtzhauzen will be looking to close the gap. Andrew Katay and Antonie Marx will have their first outings of the season, as will Izak Spies.

The Ferro Energia 111/GT Sports and Saloons have produced close racing this year. George Economides holds a slight advantage in the GT category, but Phillip Meyer, Dawie Olivier, and Lenard Archer will be among those who will try to stop him from building on that lead.

At the head of the 111 field, Mel Spurr, Lucas Bezuidenhout, and Charl Weyers should be among the front runners in Class A. Class B action will feature Wayne Lebotschy, Luigi Ferro, Migual Dias and Mik Barbaglia, among others, while Elke and Henry van Vledder, Chris Smit, and Jayden Goosen will all be trying to prevent Wouter Roos from taking another Class C win. Marius Malherbe, Keegan Nathan and Rob Clark will contest Class D, while a host of newcomers to the series will line up in Class X.

Mark du Toit and Ishmael Baloyi will be joined by Seten Naidoo, Arthur Thorne and George Aldrich in the SuperHatch category. Rob Clark, Mike O’Sullivan and Jonathan Visser will join them in their classic Youngtimers category cars.

The action-packed day starts at 09h45 on Saturday morning, with the last race scheduled to conclude at about 16h35. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the circuit – the day’s racing will be broadcast live on the Extreme Festival website.