The coming weekend’s (11-12 September) BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series NA Cup Round 6 races may prove crucial in determining the various championship battles for the three rounds that remain after this year’s fourth visit to Zwartkops Raceway.
While the season has seen a variety of winners, the main protagonists in at least two of the three current classes have solidified their positions. Although a lot can still happen, including breakouts, all the challengers will look to keep themselves in firm contention for the 2026 title honours.
In Class B, Andre van Vuuren has a 17-point lead. With six wins in total, he has won at least one race in each round and holds a 67%-win ratio at Zwartkops Raceway. Currently in second place is Ignus du Plessis, the former NA Cup leader before breaking out of Class C. However, Du Plessis is currently not on the Round 6 entry list. Although he has four wins to his name this season at the circuit, they’ve all come during his time in Class C. His best Class B result at the circuit was a second place in June. The next two challengers are the only two drivers to have beaten Van Vuuren outright on the circuit this season. Richard Gerntholtz trails Du Plessis by five points. He has only missed out on a podium finish once in 2026, with his maiden win coming in the recent coastal round. He is also the only one to have topped Van Vuuren in qualifying thus far, but both of those were at the non-Zwartkops Raceway events. Fourth-placed Olerato Sekudu is 14 points adrift, but has taken two wins thus far, both coming at Zwartkops Raceway. Bernard de Gouveia trails the latter by 13 points, 49 behind Van Vuuren. After two runner-up spots in the season opener, it has been a rather uphill battle for him, mostly due to mechanical issues. However, should he be on pace, he has proven to be hard to pass at the Pretoria circuit.
The other drivers who will be in contention in Class B are Trevor Long, Giulio Airaga, and Eddie Rodrigues. While Long is a seasoned veteran, this will only be Airaga’s second outing, his maiden race being the Round 4 visit to Zwartkops Raceway. Rodrigues is back after rebuilding his BMW E92 M3 involved in spectacular Round 3 accident.
Nicholas Herbst is certainly the driver in charge of Class C at present, with a 29-point lead. While Herbst only has three wins to his name, one of them at Zwartkops Raceway, it is his consistency coupled with the contrasting inconsistency of his primary rivals that sees him in such a dominant position. Tihan van Rooyen has four podium finishes; Claudio Jardim, four points adrift, and Ruan van der Walt, seven points adrift, have three podium finishes each. However, Van der Walt, who started the season in Class D, also has a win from his time there. Kent Swartz started the year in solid form, but missed the coastal trip and had a rather forgettable outing last time at Zwartkops Raceway. The other Class C winners are Karabo Malemela, who will miss this round at the circuit where he won last time, and Gqeberha wildcard Timothy Ball. Mitch Coetzee, whose standout performance came at Zwartkops Raceway in June, will also be in contention. Cobus Bohmer, Dirk van Loggerenberg, Ferdi van Staden and Zaheer Seedat will also be back in action. All the above have stuck their hands up to become Herbst’s main rival, but one has yet to emerge and say “It’s gonna be me.” This weekend could be the final opportunity for to do so.
The Class D battle has been thrown wide open, albeit due to Rainhardt Miller not participating in the Gqeberha races, where Henry Platt took two wins and the points lead. That gives him a four-point advantage over Miller, who returns this weekend. Justin Brown is six points behind Miller and already has a win at Zwartkops Raceway to his name. Chloe Stuart is 19 points behind Brown. She has shown she has the pace to compete at the front, but twice at the circuit, her campaigns have been marred by early-race incidents. Philip Mostert Jnr is fifth, pulled off an excellent win last time at Zwartkops Raceway, but has not entered this round.
Could this open the door for Morgan Jacobs? While she missed the Gqeberha round, her debut season has been nothing short of excellent, narrowly losing out to Mostert Jnr in June. Regulars Arri van Heerden, Craig Platt, and Mariaan Emmenis will also be back, all having missed the Gqeberha trip. Vatiswa Mokhonoana, who made her debut in Round 3 in place of Malemela, will repeat her substitute role.
The weekend will see two debutants. The first being Trent Williams in a BMW E90 330i. The second debutant, competing for the Pablo Clark Racing outfit, will be announced closer to the weekend.
In the NA Cup, it’s Van Vuuren who holds a 14-point lead over Herbst.
Saturday’s first race, consisting of 10 laps, will start at 12:50, with the second 12-lap encounter scheduled for 16:15. Saturday’s full Extreme Festival race programme will be broadcast live on Extreme Festival website, and will start at 11:10 with the first BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series Turbo Cup race.