Lyle Ramsay – Round 5 - MotorMart VW Challenge

Hard work paid off for the FUCHS Lubricants-sponsored Monroe Racing team’s Lyle Ramsay during Round 5 of the 2018 MotorMart VW Challenge held at Dezzi Raceway on Saturday, August 11. During Friday’s practice session, Ramsay set the fifth best time followed by a sixth fastest time in the qualifying round.

Race 1: Despite experiencing some mechanical problems, Ramsay managed to finish the race in fourth position.

Race 2: Ramsay started the second race in fifth position after having the fifth-fastest lap in Race 1. The Class A Volkswagen Polo driver gave it his all in this race but unfortunately, in the eighth lap an accident saw the race being red-flagged causing it to be stopped, leaving him in fifth position. The overall classification for the day gave Ramsay a second-place ranking.

“Having travelled such a long distance to race in KZN, we needed to bring home good results. The mechanical issues almost set us back, but natural racing instinct saw us taking the latter option. It was a tough day out there, but we thoroughly enjoyed competing at Dezzi Raceway,” said Ramsay.

Ramsay’s next outing will be in Round 6 of the 2018 MotorMart VW Challenge at the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom on Saturday, 15 September.

AM Racing –  Round 5 – Autobarn Superhatch Championship

After a 2-month break, the Autobarn Superhatch Championship was back with Round 5 at Dezzi Raceway in Port Shepstone, KZN. This was a debut race for the AM Racing team at the track and racing nerves had the best of them.  A lot of prep work was done prior to the event, a complete suspension change and a few other tweaks to help develop the FUCHS Lubricants-sponsored team.

Practice day: The only knowledge AM Racing had of the track was studying the track layout and watching video footage from fellow competitors, so the team used the practise session to familiarise themselves with the track.

Qualifying: Qualifying was a top 5 reversal from the finishing order of the previous race which was held at Midvaal raceway. This meant Alex Marques was set to start on pole.

Race 1: Starting in pole position, Marques soon encountered mechanical problems which saw him loose a few positions to finish in 5th position.

Race 2: Again, this saw teams staring in reverse order from race 1. Once again Marques started on pole. The team managed to fix the mechanical problem and as the lights went with the team in the lead, a few positions were lost. However, Marques fought back to finish in 5th place overall in class for the day.

The next race is the annual 200km endurance race at Phakisa freeway in Welkom on the 15th September 2018.