The Extreme Festival Presented By Coca-Cola national roster of categories got their 2025 season underway with an action-packed race weekend (7-8 March) at the Killarney International Raceway on the western outskirts of Cape Town.
The all-Kawasaki ZX10 brigade in the SunBet ZX10 Masters Cup got Saturday’s race programme underway. Clint Seller (King Price Extreme) started the new season in the same dominant fashion in which he finished his victorious 2024 title campaign. The Class A rider took both race wins with a sizeable margin over the rest of the field. Graeme van Breda (Stefanutti Stocks) was the second rider to cross the finish line on both occasions, which saw him open his Class B account with two wins. In Race 1, Van Breda had to fend off Class A’s runner-up Hein McMahon (K9 Law Enforcement), while he had an easier time of things in Race 2, where Class C winner Jayson Lamb (Tyremart East London) completed the podium.
Adriaan van Dalen (VAG Automotive Centre) completed the Class A podium in Race 1, while David Veringa (East Rand Bike & Boat World) and James Barson (Steel Monkey Clothing) were the Class B runners-up. Lamb started his double win in Class C by beating Johan Le Roux. In Race 2, Van Dalen and Pieter Delport (Carlin Learning Institutions) completed Class A’s podium. Barson and Veringa traded their earlier places in Class B, while Le Roux again finished second in Class C.
The Volkswagen Rookie Cup saw the next generation of potential national champions make their presence known. In this series, all drivers compete in Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa-entered equal Volkswagen Polo Vivo GT cars. Uzair Khan, one of two drivers on the grid to have competed in the series in 2024, started his campaign with a Race 1 win following a good tussle with Giovanni Fiorotto. Christopher Tait completed the podium. The latter headed up the field in Race 2’s early laps, but an incident involving Khan relegated him to fifth on Lap 5. Mauro da Luz gradually went to the front to take his maiden win, with Fiorotto in pursuit. Khan finished the race in third place; however, a post-race enquiry saw him demoted behind Tait in the final classification. This promoted Luke Hill to his maiden podium finish.
Brad Liebenberg hardly needs any introduction to the Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola programme. In the past decade, he has won numerous titles, but in 2025, he has moved to the Extreme SuperCars Driven By Dunlop Series, piloting the Turn Me On Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO in which Arnold Neveling won the 2024 title. Competing in the GT3 class, he started his campaign with a hat-trick of wins. In Race 1, he was chased to the line by Charl Arangies (Stradale Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R) and Jonathan du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO). While Arangies was ahead in the class for most of Race 2, an incident saw him trade places with Liebenberg, with Du Toit finishing third. In Race 3, Liebenberg was pursued by Du Toit to the line, with Arangies completing the podium.
In the time-based classes, it was Franco Scribante (Prosche 997) who took the Race 1 win from Kris Budnik (Dodge Viper 8.41), Marius Jackson (MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3), Shayur Harpal (Lamborghini Gallardo GT3), and Ricky Giannoccaro (G&H Transport Mercedes-Benz AMG). In Race 2, Scribante again finished ahead of Budnik and Jackson, with Paul Hill (Kalex Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2) and Ant Blunden (G&H Transport Mclaren MP4-23c GT3) completing the top five. Budnik took the honours in Race 3 from Hill, Ricky Giannoccaro, Roy Obery (Porsche and Jackson.
A detailed report specifying specific class results will be published on the Extreme SuperCars Driven By Dunlop website in due course
It was a trio of different winners in the All-Volkswagen Polo GTI Astron Energy Polo Cup. Ethan Coetzee took the first win of the year from Mohammed Karodia (Fast 5 Motorsport) and Hannes Scheepers (Dainfern Dental Studio). Rory Atkinson (Industry Petroleum) took the Race 2 honours from Coetzee and Karodia. In Race 3, Karodia took his maiden win, with Atkinson in tow and Tyler Robinson (AF Fans) completing the podium.
In the Masters Class, John Kruger (Habot Lubricants) beat Derick Smalberger (Sabertek) and the defending champion Wayne Masters (Performance Masters). Masters turned the tables in the second and third races, with Smalberger and Kruger trading the final podium spots.
The Gazoo Racing Cup Driven By Netstar also saw a host of new faces, among some familiar ones.
Jason Coetzee took both the GR 86 wins from Mikel Bezuidenhout. Khanya Ngwennya and Kent Swartz finished third in Race 1 and 2, respectively.
For 2025, the Toyota South Africa partners and dealer staff shifted to the GR Corolla class. Defending champion Devon Scott won both races from Mario de Sousa and Werner Venter.
This saw the media partners compete in the GR Yaris class. Nabil Abdool won both races from Kyle Kock and Phuti Mpyane.
Anthoney Pretorius (BMW 128ti) took a double win in the South African Touring Cars season opener. Michael van Rooyen (SVR Steelworks Toyota Corolla) took the runner-up spot, while debutant Jagger Robertson (Chemical Logistics Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI), last year’s Investchem Formula 1600 champion, took a podium on debut. Pretorius made it a double win in the reverse grid second race with Van Rooyen on his tail. Mandla Mdakane (Chemical Logistics Toyota Corolla), returning to the series after a two-year absence, took the final podium spot this time around.
Behind them, the SATC SupaCup delivered a superb performance with Cape Town’s own Tate Bishop (ANGRi Racing Volkswagen Polo SupaCup) beating the Volkswagen Motorsport Polo SupaCup duo of Charl Visser and defending champion Jonathan Mogotsi in both races.
Former SATC SupaCup Masters champion Andre Bezuidenhout (Team Perfect Circle Volkswagen Polo SupaCup) took both class wins.
All South African Touring Cars and SATC SupaCup results for Race 2 remain provisional and will only be confirmed at a date still to be determined.
While the Extreme Festival Presented By Coca-Cola’s national season opener was a success that drew a host of motorsport enthusiasts from Cape Town to attend, there were issues with the live broadcast. While all steps are always taken to provide an interrupted broadcast, some aspects are beyond the scope of the Tour and 2Wheels TV, the contracted service provider. At certain venues, fibre infrastructure does exist, which can be dedicated to the broadcast. However, this past weekend, the primary and backup strategies were reliant on mobile connectivity. Friday afternoon saw Eskom implement Stage 3 rotational power cuts. Among the many inconveniences caused by it, it does have a crippling effect on mobile networks and their infrastructure. Eventually, the YouTube broadcast stopped due to the very poor upload capacity, while the broadcast continued uninterrupted on Facebook. Extreme Festival Presented by Coca-Cola and 2Wheels TV would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.
The full broadcast will, however, be added to the 2Wheels TV YouTube channel again in due course.
The next Extreme Festival Presented by Coca-Cola event will be a bumper-edition combined national and regional event at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on 10-12 April.