Ladies and gentlemen, what an epic start to Division 1 of the Iracing South Africa TCR championship, with all the thrills and spills one has gotten to know with motorsport and with the nature of the TCR cars door to door racing was on the cards and the 23 drivers did not disappoint at all.
With all the drivers putting in the hard work for qualifying at Lime Rock Park and the top 10 only separated by 0.5 sec, the race was going to be one to watch. Julian Fameliaris managed to snatch the pole position in his Hyundai Elantra N TC and start on the inside line closely followed by Jurie Swart in second in his Audi RS3 and Nathan Victor in third with his Hyundai Elantra N TC.
With the drivers lined up for the start of the first round and the lights ablaze, the race soon started with all the drivers fighting for their spot into turn one, Jurie Swart managed to get the jump off the line and power his way into pole position but drama at the back when Robbie Teengs, Clinton Bezuidenhout and Jonty Vice had some understeer and all three drivers landed into the wall and needing to return to the pits for some repairs.
While our front runners were nose to tail for a large portion of the race attention turned to multiple time South African national champions duking side by side with Jaco Steyn the sim racer who leaves it all on the track were fighting tooth and nail as they went side by side through the corners rubbing doors but at the same time being mindful enough to give each other room, eventually, Micheal Stephen just managed to get ahead of Jaco Steyn and then both drivers needed to return their focus on catching up to the grid.
As the race was reaching its climax Julian Fameliaris and Jurie Swart were still fighting as hard as they can both drivers going side by side and battling their way around as they lapped the grid. As the grid battled their way around for the last lap of the race it was Julian Fameliaris managing to take the win with Jurie Swart in second and Michael Stephen in third. Jacques Botha took forth just keeping ahead of Jaco Steyn in fifth place by 0.2 of a second.
With round 1 being so close up and down the field the series is off to a blazing start and all the drivers ready to tackle round 2 at Tsukuba circuit on the 21st of February it’s most definitely not one to miss out on.
If you want to watch the race make sure you tune into 2nd Gear Productions for the stream and live commentary with Gary Flemming, Frankie Heunis, and FC Nieuwoudt on their Youtube page. https://youtu.be/S80-LbeAu5s
Till next time folks keep safe, have a good morning, good afternoon, and good night.
