Tschops Sipuka takes up seat with Terry Moss Racing team

Port Elizabeth racing hero Tschops Sipuka will be back behind the wheel when he takes up a seat in the Terry Moss Racing team for the 2019 Sasol GTC championship.

Sipuka was revealed at a press conference at the Audi Centre Port Elizabeth alongside team principal Terry Moss and team-mate Simon Moss on Wednesday.

“It's quite a good, unique feeling for me to be back where I started. It brings back a lot of good memories, because this is where it started for me,” Sipuka said.

Sipuka said this would not be the first time he would team up with Simon as the pair “explored” racing in the Formula BMW in Europe.

“I have also had the privilege of driving alongside him in the single seater. We have come a long way. I have seen him race. We have been teamed together on several occasions,” he said.

Asked if getting back into a race car was part of his future plans, he said: “Not at all, but I could not have chosen another team. Had it been another team, it would have been a daunting task. But coming back to the team I started with is a blessing in disguise.”

Simon said it was a privileged to be racing alongside “legend” Sipuka, saying he was excited to see what the season holds.

“Having won all the Polo Cup titles that he has, against all the legends who have been in the game . . . I think I was about five years old when he started with my dad. So I will always help wherever I can, but I think I will get a lot more guidance from him on the race track,” Simon added.

Looking ahead to the opening round of the Sasol GTC championships in Durban this weekend, Simon said the Dezzi Raceway track was a challenging track. “It’s a wild track, it has uphills and downhills with no run off at all. So I think Tschops has done a lot of laps in the car. He is comfortable in it but just like me he will need to get a bit more comfortable with it in the first few sessions.

“So we just need to take it step by step, into each session, but I think we have the team behind us to have the car prepared right so we can be on top of the time sheets from session one until we leave the gate to come home,” Simon said.

Team principal Terry Moss said the times they have done during testing have been some of the fastest times they have ever recorded.

“We have lost no edge. We have put in the extra effort and I think we are very well prepared for Saturday and I cannot wait for racing to get under way. Having Simon and Tschops together, I can only see it getting better and better,” he said.