Rowe races to Zwartkops win

VOLKSWAGEN

Motorsport delivered another exceptional performance in round three of the Sasol GTC Championship held at Pretoria’s Zwartkops Raceway.

Port Elizabeth’s Daniel Rowe raced his Volkswagen Motorsport Jetta GTC to a convincing lights-to-flag win from pole position in the second GTC race, while Keagan Masters excelled yet again in his Volkswagen Advanced Driving Golf GTi, taking a solid second in the opening race and a convincing win in the second heat from the back of the inverted grid.

Adding to VW Motorsport’s joy is that Masters has taken an eight-point lead in the GTC2 Championship.

Adrian Wood drove his Kyocera Volkswagen Golf GTi to a pair of points-paying results, banking 26 points for his efforts on race day.

Mathew Hodges was again out of luck, being forced to retire his Jetta GTC from the first race.

In the first race, Hodges jumped from sixth place on the grid to fourth, only to retire on the final lap.

In the second race, Rowe made no mistakes and bolted away from the chasing pack to open a safe gap to Gennaro Bonafede (BMW) in second place.

Deteriorating grip towards the end of the race saw Rowe’s margin dwindle to 0.8 seconds as he streaked under the chequered flag.

Masters was involved in a fraught battle with Brad Liebenberg (Mini) as the pair raced side by side until Masters was forced wide in turn five.

Volkswagen Motorsport manager Mike Rowe was happy with his team’s results. The team heads for East London’s Grand Prix Circuit for round four of the series on June 16.