Championship on a knife-edge after Round 3!

Theodore Vermaak • September 16, 2020

Game on! The Hankook Formula Vee Championship

Round 3 of the Hankook National Formula Vee Championship took place at Zwartkops Raceway on 12 September 2020 as part of the Regional Inland Festival. All the championship contenders made it to the races with a strong 18 car entry list.

The racing promised to be action packed as current championship leader Lushen Ramchander (Liqui Moly Forza) was ready to mount a serious challenge for the shortened 5 round championship. Having a five point advantage over Gert van den Berg (Hankook Rhema 2), meant it was game on between the two of them. The other potential challenger was Lendl Jansen (Bull Security Forza), who spent a good couple of Wednesdays practising at Zwartkops.

In qualifying this showed and Jansen pulled off two great laps to take pole position for both races. Behind him it was van den Berg and Ramchander for race 1 and Ramchander and van den Berg for race 2. The first three cars were covered by less than 0,2s. Greg Wilson (Forza) was 4th on the grid with a highest qualifying for Shaun van der Linde (Truck City Boksburg) in 5th. This was just again showcasing the knowledge of Dean Nel as a mechanic on these cars. Jaco Schriks (Lube Station Rhema 2) could only manage 6th, and was the first of the cars on old tyres. He would have his work cut out for him on Saturday. Brandon Hills (Mangaza Rhema 1.5) only managed a couple of laps due to a misfiring car for most of the session. Theo Vermaak (D.O.E. Quality Parts / Forza Racing Vision) had some gearbox struggles as the car kept jumping out of 2nd gear and only managed a handful of laps as well. A returning Ashley Padayachee (Catalyst Technology Solutions Lantis) was finding his feet after a big incident with his first car in 2019. Some steering issue would force him to retire, but he did complete some successful laps in the car this time around. Another surprise was visiting driver Josef Kotze (Hankook Sting) who managed a decent time of 1m13,255s to claim 14th out of the 18 car field.

The racing was as close and hard fought as always. In race 1, Van den Berg got the jump on Jansen to turn 2 and then managed to pull a small gap to the fighting pack behind him. Jansen had a determined championship leader behind him in the form of Ramchander. The two of them had an awesome dice with positions changing frequently. In the end Ramchander beat out Jansen. Wilson and Schriks also had a fight of note. Schriks passed Wilson early on, but Wilson was waiting for the closing stages to make a move. He did, but Schriks came back swiftly. After numerous position changes, Schriks ended up 4th with Wilson in 5th. Van der Linde managed a solid race result after the great qualifying and ended the race in 6th just ahead of Brandon Hills with a car that was running significantly better than in qualifying. Peter Hills managed to come from 17th on the start line to 8th with MD Bester following him closely over the line. Eric Booyens (Rhema 2) managed to narrowly beat Jeandre le Roux (Liqui Moly Stealth). Vaughn Hills (Hankook Rhema 2) had a stuck accelerator cable and had to come into the pits to repair it. The visiting Kotze had a good race after initially almost stalling it on the start line and having to come from dead last.

At the race 2 start, the big winner was Van den Berg again, who came from 3rd on the grid to claim the lead after the first 2 corners. He would again have the rest fighting it out behind him, thus allowing him to stretch out a lead and take the race 2 win. Behind him, the dice for 2nd delivered the best racing of the entire day. Ramchander was initially leading, but a fast charging Schriks and Wilson took turns to lead out this battle as well. The lead in this group changed constantly and a frustrated Ramchander had to contend with a visually pleasing battle rather than being able to break away and take the fight to Van den Berg. He managed to claim 2nd to limit the damage, with Wilson, Schriks and Jansen following him over the line, covered by less than one second. Van der Linde again secured a solid 6th with Peter Hills coming from last to 7th this time around. He beat out Brandon and Vaughn, who this time had a much better race. Behind the three Hills’s, Jannie Geyser (Rhema 2) finished ahead of Bester and Booyens. Roy Douglas (Forza) finished just behind Booyens. Vermaak had to recover after a spin trying to overtake Le Roux cost him some time. Dave Austin (DA Racing Rhema 2) finished ahead of Josef Kotze and Le Roux. Kotze had a spin while trying a move on Austin and Le Roux had a malfunctioning distributor ruin his race with 2 laps to go.

Racing was as close as ever, with only the dicing playing into van den Berg’s hands. The championship now goes to Phakisa on 3 October 2020 with Van den Berg and Ramchander tied on points.

Hankook Formula Vee is proudly brought to you by Hankook and DOE Quality Parts.

< Older Post

Newer Post >