19/08/2026
🇲🇿 ATCM MAPUTO — Silvercup 2.0 Round 6 - Race Report 🏁
We headed off from the familiar Shell garage at Red Star Raceway, bound for tarmac untested and the unfamiliar territory of ATCM Maputo.
I won’t make any bones about it — once you cross the border, everything you’re accustomed to becomes vastly different! Keeping our wits about us, we eventually arrived at the circuit, and it genuinely felt like finding an oasis in the desert.
From the moment we arrived, the hospitality was on another level. Fresh-faced assistants were there to help with everything from offloading and cleaning the cars, to getting us buckled in and refuelling between sessions. The ATCM officials, staff and organisers could not have made us feel more welcome.
Friday testing brought back an old enemy — power steering! We’d had just two days to turn the car around after the previous weekend’s Extreme Festival , and our rushed steering rack repair had a few glitches. The solution for the weekend? Accept that it was going to leak around 200ml of fluid per session, keep topping it up and SEND IT!
Other than that, Friday was faultless, and that evening we were treated to a fantastic welcoming dinner at the very friendly ATCM clubhouse.
Saturday — RACE DAY! 🏁
There aren’t many race mornings where you leave a hotel with the circuit on one side and the ocean on the other. Definitely a first for me!
Qualifying saw us put the Polo 4th overall and 2nd in class, pipped by the Wessel Mostert BMW, local specialist Faudo Sidoque and Andre Bettencourt in his absolute monster of a V8 Turbo Cobra.
Race 1
A clean, professional race. We didn’t have an answer for Wessel’s pace, while Faudo and Andre unfortunately suffered mechanical failures.
We brought it home 2nd overall. 🥈
Race 2
A little confusion on the rolling start somehow resulted in me leading the race for the opening lap!
Wessel eventually found his way through, and with the grandstands filling up, I decided to hang back and let Zander Jacobs and Duane Brown through so we could give the crowd something to watch.
That may have been a mistake. 😂 Once I let them through, they certainly weren’t interested in giving the positions back!
An almighty battle followed, and they made me work properly hard to find my way past again. Eventually we fought our way back to 2nd overall — although with considerably more sweat on the brow than planned!
Race 3
This time we found ourselves in a fantastic battle with local hero Andre Bettencourt, now behind the wheel of a second Cobra.
Andre drove incredibly cleanly, and his local knowledge showed. He worked his way ahead before I triggered an oil-pressure safety cut while asking a little too much of the car through the high-G sections.Zander was right there to capitalise and found his way through.
At that point, discretion won over ambition. Rather than risk damaging the car, I elected to bring her home and make sure we were there for the incredible end-of-race celebration in front of the grandstand — another completely new and spectacular experience.
🏆 2ND OVERALL FOR THE DAY! But the result almost feels secondary. The circuit. The people. The hospitality. The atmosphere. The trip across the border. Racing somewhere completely unfamiliar. And the reception from the Mozambican motorsport community made this one of those race weekends that will stick with me for a very long time.
If you’re sitting on the fence wondering whether you should make the trip to race at ATCM...STOP WONDERING. JUST GO.
Obrigado ATCM and Maputo — you were absolutely unforgettable! ❤️ Obrigado Silver Cup Racing 2.0 for making the weekend possible!
As always thank you to the guys and gals behind us and who allow us to wear their brands so proudly Origen Oil WIX Filters Southern Africa 959 Panelbeaters & Spraypainters TurboDirect S.A Auto Express - Car Service & Repair - Boksburg G-Force Customs VS Design
Awesome images as always by SportLight ZA 📸 Thank you!! Words can only describe a story to a point, your imagery is the cherry on top!