After three rounds of close racing, there is very little in it as far championship points are concerned in the Global Touring Cars series, so any points gained this weekend at the Aldo Scribante circuit in Port Elizabeth will be both hard-earned and valuable.

The man at the top of the table is Audi’s Simon Moss, who is 12 points clear of Keagan Masters (Volkswagen Jetta), after just three races. As things stand, Volkswagen’s Daniel Rowe, is in third followed by Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Michael van Rooyen, just three points behind.

The points accumulated by Masters and Rowe so far in 2019 give Volkswagen a healthy lead as far as the Manufacturers’ race is concerned, but it is the points that come with race victories they will now be after.

“We have had great pace so far this season,” says Daniel Rowe. “Personally I think that we were unlucky to not have won more races considering our pace and how good the car has been so far, so I am really hoping for a good weekend in PE.”

It will indeed be a home race for Rowe who grew up in Port Elizabeth.

“I know the circuit well and I have many friends here, so my goal is definitely to fight for victories. Wins also yield good points so a win or two that takes us to the top of the points standings will be the ultimate reward for the whole team.”

Michael van Rooyen, the ‘Rustenburg Rocket’, had a tough outing in Cape Town for Round 3 of the championship, but is aiming for a better result in Port Elizabeth.

“We really struggled with electrical issues in the Cape,” explains Van Rooyen. “We also faced some challenges in terms of balancing the car properly, but both of these issues have been sorted in the meantime, and we’ve done quite a bit of testing.”

As fas as GTC2 is concerned, Volkswagen will be hoping that it will be business as usual. The Golf GTI’s have dominated the season so far with Bradley Liebenberg winning all but one race and teammate Adrian Wood finishing a close second on four occasions.

Both Liebenberg and Wood were involved in a first corner incident during the last race in Cape Town, but the team has worked hard in order to ensure that they will once again be at the front in PE.

The teams will have a number of practice sessions available to do final testing and setup on Friday while the all-important qualifying session and two races are all scheduled for the Saturday.