6 Speed’s Bullion IT Racers Swart, Lupini Star at Scribante
Race 3 Report: Jurie & Gio continue to rule the Polo Cup Roost.
The Aldo Scribante raceway is in Gqeberha, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. A port town and industrial city, its name has changed consistently through the years. Once known as Delagoa and then Algoa Bay, when the British settlers arrived in 1820, and more recently called Port Elizabeth and popularly known as the Friendly, or the Windy City, it’s run by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. The home of an international Ford engine and the Isuzu production line, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz also have plants nearby.
To Tight & Twisty Sun-Bleached Aldo Scribante
Not that any of that is of much relevance, besides the fact that Volkswagen backed its hometown national championship Extreme Festival races as the tight and twisty sun-bleached facility that lives right up to its Friendly City reputation, a week or two back. Which is where Bullion IT Racing headed as it hitched its respective trailers up to tow its championship contending blue and red Polo GTI Cups the five hundred miles up from its dual Cape Town base.
Actually, two teams racing as one, 2021 Polo Cup runner-up Jurie Swart and turbo era Polo Cup rookie Giordano Lupini’s families have been friends since karting days. Dads, Jurie senior and Michele run each car, Jurie’s blue machine out of race engineer, GAP Motorsport’s Andrew ‘Gozzi’ Goslett’s shop. Which is just around the corner from rival engineer, and former track arch rival, Nian du Toit’s NDT, which runs Giordano’s red Bullion IT Polo under Gio’s dad, Michele’s watchful eye.
So, the Bullion IT team prepares its cars separately, but all come together to race, test, and run as one. Jurie and Giordano have been mates ever since they met in karting many moons ago, when Swart took young Lupini under his wing. The two youngsters later started a car dealership together. Jurie still runs Umpini Motors today, while Giordano stepped aside to study further and he’s presently in his final year of bachelor of commerce marketing degree at the Stellenbosch IMM University.
2022 Started on the Font Foot for Swart & Lupini
Jurie is in his fifth season of Polo Cup, having missed the 2021 title by a couple of points despite winning the last four races on the trot. He also races in of the regional GTi Challenge, where he’s the reigning Class A champion. Former GTi Challenge Class C champion Giordano stepped up to the national championship Compcare Polo Cup for 2022.
The 2022 season started on the front foot for Bullion IT Racing, as regular readers will have followed. Giordano sensationally put his red Polo on pole position for the opening round at the team’s Killarney, Cape Town home track, before Jurie went on to win two races on the day to come away in a handy championship lead. Gio added a couple of fastest laps on that podium rich weekend.
Zwartkops’ second round up at most of the team’s rivals’ home track in Pretoria, however proved a tougher nut to crack. Both cars missed the top six Superpole in qualifying and were forced to fight back to fourth and seventh for the day, from seventh and tenth on the grid, respectively. So, there was a degree of trepidation as the lads arrived in Port Elizabeth for round 3 at Aldo Scribante.
Scribante is Our Kind of Track – Swart
“Zwartkops was tough after we missed the Superpole cut, but our pace everywhere else that weekend was great,” Jurie explained. “We have worked on our single lap pace and Aldo Scribante is our kind of a track.” Gio added: “Scribante is also one of my favorite racetracks, so I can’t wait to race there again, it’s been a while!” Aldo Scribante however had different ideas, as the Bullion IT drivers were to discover…
Jurie had a good run though practice, but Giordano struggled on Friday. “I had decent pace in practice, and I qualified third on Friday afternoon,” Jurie confirmed. “I can’t wait for tomorrow!” Gio’s woes turned out to be a shock absorber problem as the team rushed to replace the rear dampers in time for qualifying. But it was not enough. “The car felt a bit better, but it still was not quite right, and I made a mistake on my hot lap and ended up tenth on the grid,” Giordano rued.
Jurie went on to place a handy fourth in Superpole, and drew second out of the hat for race two in the top six draw. Giordano was tenth on the first race grid and ninth for race 2. The team then replaced Lupini’s front dampers and Giordano was right back on the pace in warm up Saturday morning, leaving him far more confident for the balance of what was to prove a thrilling race day.
Swart Picked Them Off for the Win
Jurie jumped to third on the first lap as he set off after pole man and local hero Clinton Bezuidenhout and soon picked him off. The blue Bullion IT Polo then reeled Charl Visser’s red Universal Racing car in and passed him for the win. “Wow, what a race!” Jurie Swart admitted. “Come the races, all our hard work on race pace paid off and my blue Bullion IT Polo was quite literally on rails right off the line to take the win. “Thanks team!”
Behind him, Giordano got off the line well, but was pinched by two cars and had to lift off the throttle to avoid contact, dropping back to thirteenth. He then put in a tigerish drive to charge back to eighth, under huge pressure from Lee Thompson, who was fighting back after being taken out of the lead. “I had to lift at the start, so I put my head down and gave it my all” Gio explained. “My race pace was very good, but I also had huge pressure from Lee, who followed me closely all the way. “I worked so hard for those points!”
Jurie started second in Race 2 but dropped back to fifth after a fraught first lap. He fought back to third by the flag, to clinch the overall win for the day. “That one was a little more difficult!” Jurie admitted. “I never made the best of my front row start from the lucky packet draw, but I clawed back to third for more good points and the overall win for the day, to further consolidate my championship lead.”
Lupini Put on a Spectacular Display
Further back in the pack, Giordano put on a spectacular and often wild and sideways fightback as he muscled his way up the field after another cautious start to avoid drama ahead: “Race 2 was another tricky start and that dropped me a place or two. “From there, my red Bullion IT Polo was just perfect, so I was able to pick them off one by one. “Dean Venter proved the most difficult to pass, which lost me some time, but I was still able to climb to sixth for a valuable points stash.”
“I leave Aldo Scribante in a 20-point championship lead,” Jurie Swart concluded. “Now the job is to grow that as we go!” Giordano Lupini added: “My objective is to sort our qualifying issues for once and for all, and to get into Superpole so we can and fight up front in the races. “We are doing everything we can to pull that off before our next round at Red Star, but thanks to the team for a brilliant effort and fantastic car, and to Bullion IT for the support!”
“Our Polo Cup championship leader Jurie and our top rookie Giordano once again made us proud at Aldo Scribante,” Bullion IT CEO Clive Strover wrapped it up. “These kids and our entire team are doing a brilliant job. “Now we can’t wait for Red Star on 2 July.”
*The Aldo Scribante weekend ended under a cloud when a Volkswagen Motorsport transporter was involved in an accident returning from Gqeberha, claiming the lives of two team members. 6 Speed Online and Bullion IT Racing extends their sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the two men lost in that tragic accident, and to the entire Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa family.
Photos: Neil Phillipson & Motorsport Fanatix