Michael wins Zwartkops, Julian and Jason seal 2026 titles

Julian van der Watt and Jason Loosemore secured the 2026 South African Touring Cars and SATC SupaCup titles at the Zwartkops National Extreme Festival finale on Saturday.

While Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Michael van Rooyen edged race one winner Keegan Campos for the overall SATC round win, van der Watt’s reverse-grid race two victory was enough to wrap up the country’s premier racing crown for 2026. Jason Loosemore meantime took pole position and both race wins to seal the 2026 SATC SupaCup title.

Keegan Campos took the Touring Cars pole position with a 1 minute 02.172 lap in his Veloce Carello BMW 128ti on Saturday morning. He edged rookie Jason Coetzee’s Gazoo Corolla by two-tenths of a second, while title rivals, rookie KC Ensor-Smith and Julian van der Watt lined up third and fourth in their Chemical Logistics WCT Volkswagen Golf GTIs, ahead of Michael van Rooyen’s Gazoo Corolla and Andrew Schofield’s FlySafair FAST BMW 128ti.

In SupaCup, Jason Loosemore took pole in his Security Fencing SupaPolo by four-tenths of a second from Judd Bertholdt’s Union Power machine and Niko Zafiris in his C-Tech car. Rory Atkinson lined up fourth in his factory Volkswagen Motorsport SupaPolo ahead of David Franco’s Graphix Supply World entry, Tyler Robinson’s AF Fans machine, debutant Mo Karodia’s Fast Five car, and Paulo Loureiro in the Combined Medical Polo.

Feature Race 1 saw Keegan Campos lead from start to finish, holding Jason Coetzee off by a second, with Michael van Rooyen third ahead of KC Ensor-Smith, Julian van der Watt, and Andrew Schofield. Jason Loosemore dominated SupaCup from the front, beating Rory Atkinson and Judd Bertholdt. Tyler Robinson finished fourth ahead of Mo Karodia, David Franco, and Paulo Loureiro, while Niko Zafiris retired.

The reversed-grid top six Sprint Race 2 gave Julian van der Watt a front row start. The Cape ace made no mistake, leading lights-to-flag to beat Michael van Rooyen by half a second. Keegan Campos finished third from Jason Coetzee and a battered KC Ensor-Smith, while Andrew Schofield failed to start following race 1 engine damage.

Jason Loosemore swept SupaCup, also winning race two from David Franco, Judd Bertholdt, Mo Karodia, Rory Atkinson, and Paulo Loureiro after Niko Zafiris did not start.

With the heat times tallied up, Michael van Rooyen took overall South African Touring Cars honours by 0.6 seconds from Keegan Campos and Julian van der Watt. Jason Loosemore topped the SupaCup podium alongside Judd Bertholdt and Rory Atkinson.

All of which leaves Julian van der Watt as the 2026 South African Touring Car Champion, and Jason Loosemore the 2026 SATC SupaCup Champion, with a fresh season set to start all over again in 2027.