The occasion will be Round Six of the 2003 Vodacom Power Tour, to which the passenger car racers will bring 31 entries, engaged in five closely- contested title chases.
At the front of the field, the man to beat in Class A will be current points leader Etienne van der Linde in his Castrol BMW 330i, backed by the identical cars of Castrol BMW team mates Anthony Taylor and Shaun van der Linde.
Judging by recent events, their closest challenger should be Martin Steyn in the Alfissimo team’s LG Flatron Alfa Romeo 156 GTA.
The BMWs should be quicker around Zwartkops’ tight corners, while the Alfa is expected to have better legs through the fast sweeps – all setting the table for a paint-swapping, high-speed chess game.
Fully in the fight should be the Kaye-Eddie team’s three BMW 330i entries, driven by Reghardt Roets, Steve Morris and Mark Allison, plus Richard Sorensen in his Vaal-HP BMW 330i.
Attacking the BMW brigade and adding much spectacle to proceedings will be Leeroy Poulter in the Champion EON Mercedes-Benz C320 and Steve Wyndham in the Ford Credit Falcon XR8.
Dawie Brough currently leads this year’s Production Car Championship overall in his Class B Prominent Paints Honda Ballade V-TEC.
He will need a full points score at Zwartkops to maintain the title lead, but Class B victories will not come on a plate the rest of this year.
Able and willing to interfere with Brough’s plans will be Bert Grogor (German Workshop Toyota Corolla RSi), Mike O’Sullivan (OKI Honda Ballade V- TEC), Brian Martin (Havoline Toyota RunX RSi) and Jesse Adams (Ray-Ban Honda V-TEC).
Class C will have a clear victory favourite in Lawrence Boshoff (Orbit Coach Honda Ballade 180i), with his closest challengers Doug Reekie (Ray-Ban Honda Ballade 180i), Craig Nicholson (Sabat Honda Ballade 180i) and Molefe Lebethe (OKI Honda Ballade 180i).
Due to space constraints around the 2,4-km Zwartkops circuit, next Saturday’s Production Car racing field will be split, with the drivers in Classes D and E competing separately from the rest.
Current Junior Production Car Champion Dave Compton will head up the Class D field in his Bumpertech Toyota Tazz 1600.
He will face a fierce onslaught from the Ford Racing equipe’s Clinton Weston (Furman Glass Ikon 160i), Fanie de Bruin (M&R Ikon 160i) and Miguel Pasqualli in a similar car.
Others in the podium hunt will include Carlos Nobre (Motorhouse VW Golf 1600), Angus Thompson (Garonga Safari VW Golf 1600), James Menin (Le Grange Opel Corsa 1,6 GSi), and John Williams (Bacardi Ford Ikon).
The Class E race should see tight rivalry between Darren Murphy (VW Parts CitiGolf), Riyad Jaffer (Used Car Magazine Toyota Tazz), Shane Williams (Ford Fiesta 130i), Francois van Zyl (Opel Corsa 140i) and Eckhart Schoenknecht (Caltex VW CitiGolf).