South Africa, stand up! Our very own Jonathan Mogotsi is set to participate in one of the most grueling and challenging world motorsport stages, the Nürburgring 24-Hour. The 2024 South African Touring Cars SupaCup champion is on a mission to earn his Grade A 'Ring Licence' through the NLS1 and NLS2 4-hour races at the legendary circuit to qualify to race in the 24-Hour in May.
“I am absolutely delighted to confirm that we will be taking my next step in my incredible ten-year Volkswagen Motorsport journey when I qualify for, and race in the 2026 Nürburgring 24-Hour,” Mogotsi confirmed. “Like the rest of this incredible trip, it’s a dream come true and a cannot thank Mike Rowe and Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa team more.”
Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa veteran, Mogotsi will be part of the Max Kruse Racing team, which runs Golf 8 TCRs supported by Volkswagen AG. The team run a trio of Golf TCRs in the qualifiers and then in the 24-Hour, where Jonathan is allocated to Car 2 of the lineup.
What started as a young man being drafted in the Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa program from previously doing good and learning his racecraft in gaming, where he won several online racing titles and came very close to winning an international competition that would see him compete in world GT3 races. Still determine as ever, the Johannesburg business analyst never gave up on his dream of becoming a real race driver.
So when Volkswagen announced the Driver Search in 2016, Mogotsi wasted no time in enlisting before anyone else. Jonathan pushed throughout the intensive 3-month programme after being taken in. It culminated in a track shootout, which led to the judges handing him the competition’s illustrious 2017 Engen Volkswagen Polo Cup drive.
Mogotsi has become highly respected as a top South African racing driver. Having remained loyal to the Volkswagen family in 2019, Jonathan raced in the new turbo era Polo Cup, SupaCup with Volkswagen for lockdown 2020, winning the SupaCup once again at Aldo Scribante en route to a close second in the title race in 2021. That earned Mogotsi a drive in Global Touring Cars, only for the factory Volkswagens to be destroyed in a tragic accident en route home from the third meeting of the season.
Mogotsi simultaneously made a name for himself as a leading hill climber with a string of class wins driving SupaPolos on the Knysna Simola climb. Among others, Mogotsi's 2026 Nürburgring 24-Hour program is the next step in his Volkswagen fairytale journey, which began when he won the 2016 Volkswagen Driver Search.
Volkswagen Motorsport will soon confirm the rest of its 2026 plans including the 30th Birthday Astron Energy Polo Cup, the Volkswagen Rookie Cup and involvement in the SATC SupaCup alongside its hill climbing and international exploits.