Kyalami saw a less-than auspicious start when rain bucketed down for their first race. Despite this the field showed the Formula Volkswagen series is serious about their racing and went on to prove it during the second race of the day.
Then the field raised eyebrows again by putting in faster laptimes than the big V8 field. What makes this especially noteworthy is that drivers are unable to start their cars between race meetings, never mind practise, and yet they already show excellent lap times.
Thus far it has been Gavin Cronje (25) and the Jonah Capital entry who have dominated winning the first four races for the season. It was in Port Elizabeth that Christiano Morgado (7) and his Morgado Racing car turned the tables on Cronje, claiming both race wins.
According to Morgado teething problems with his car have kept him from putting in the times he’s been looking for. Everything fell into place at the Port Elizabeth meeting though and the results speak for themselves. He will be hoping for more of the same at Zwartkops and will want to take the front spot on the starting grid to avoid risky overtaking manoeuvres.
With the field competing at Zwartkops Raceway it could very well be down to qualifying again for the eventual race winner. Many of the characteristics that can be found at Aldo Scribante Raceway also features at Zwartkops and this type of circuit dictates that good qualifying times are a valid and successful race strategy.
The tight corners, narrow track and short circuit make it crucial to post good qualifying times. Without this racers will have to try and settle their finishing positions on track and under these circumstances disaster can often play a very heavy-handed role in the final outcome.
When the drivers are concentrating on keeping their race cars screaming around the track in the quickest possible times, the last thing they want on their minds is having to deal with traffic on the circuit. This adds an unwanted dimension that impacts negatively on lap times and raises the stakes for possible disaster if overtaking moves go wrong.
When racing open-wheeled race cars weighing just 600 kg and producing 220 bhp, the need for concentration is even greater. When it comes to the diversity of talent involved in Formula Volkswagen, the level of concentration skyrockets.
Among the list of competitors is names like Lee Thompson (0) in a Southern Sun entry, Jennifer Murray (16), Francois van der Merwe (6) in the Bravo Holdings car, Michael Stephen (2) behind the wheel of a Southern Sun Formula Volkswagen and Paulo da Cunha in a Tubular Tech Construction race car. All drivers who have achieved in a variety of formulas and who are quite capable of performing with every bit of the skill display by Cronje and Morgado.
This keeps things very interesting in Formula Volkswagen and also keeps the entire field of drivers on their toes. During this first season of the Formula Volkswagen series the drivers and teams have a bit of breathing room to find their feet, learn the ropes and prepare for a full assault on a national championship title.
It looks like they mean to use every single second of the time available and motorsport fans around the country are the ones who will benefit from their display of race craft on the track.
