Wildcard Grand Slam Race Weekend Nobody Will Forget
‘6Speed’ Racing Returns to deliver a mesmerizing once-off Killarney victory.
Regular 6Speed readers may wonder what became of our regular racing exploits this year. Last year, you may remember, we chased CompCare Polo Cup glory with a two-car team in a series famous for propelling South African youngsters to international racing stardom.
Reigning DTM champion Sheldon van der Linde cut his teeth there, as did his brother, Formula E, DTM and GT racer Kelvin and his Lamborghini teammate and US GT champion Jordan Pepper, among others. Polo Cup remains as hotly contested as ever, but our little team disbanded at the end of last season after Jurie Swart ended third with three race wins and rookie Giordano Lupini ended best of the first season drivers in sixth after scoring a rare year 1 race win.
A Quirk of Fate. The Panel Shop Called, the Car Was Ready
Jurie moved on to an endurance racing seat in the national series alongside his regional campaign after his Polo Cup was sold. Giordano opted not to race after failing to secure the necessary budget in time for the first race of the season at Kyalami. He left two of last year’s frontrunners, Dawie van der Merwe and Charl Visser to share the honors here. Lupini’s car went to the panel shop to clean up, we would decide what would do with it once it was ready.
Then, in a quirk of fate, Master Panelbeaters called to let us know that the car was ready, just a week before the second race of the season at our home track where Gio had won the first heat last time out. We discussed it and Gio suggested that we should consider racing. So we called VW Motorsport for permission to make a once-off entry and they agreed. Then we called a few of our sponsors to ask if they’d be keen to come on board for some wildcard fun and none of Tork Craft Tools, Pabar Metal Pressings, Bullion IT and Red Earth Projects hesitated to take the bait.
Nobody Knew We’d Be at Killarney!
We never told anyone else, except our prep shop and our local sticker guy Franschhoek Signs, who made up the decals while we took the car across to Nian du Toit Racing. Nian, Chase and the lads were as delighted as the rest to hear we were going to try run a little interference over the weekend and they soon had the car standing shiny, ready and prepared in the corner of the shop. Then we arrived at Killarney completely unannounced on Thursday morning and casually set about to apply the stickers. Our rivals one by one expressed their surprise, but all seemed more than happy to have us back, too.
“We couldn’t just sit back and let everyone come to our Killarney home track and not give it a go,” Giordano smiled as he unexpectedly lined up to turn in a few shakedown laps in Thursday evening practice. “We must thank our sponsors, Tork Craft Tools, Pabar Automotive Pressings, Red Earth Projects, and Bullion IT, for coming aboard at the last moment to make this outing possible. “It’s been like slipping on a glove to get back into it, NDT Racing is excited to have us back and everyone else has been delighted to be involved again. Yeah, I’m a touch rusty, but I’m confident that we’ll find our way back around here come quali Friday evening!
We Gave Our Killarney Fans Something to Shout About
“We are here to give my loyal Killarney fans something to shout about this weekend, have a little fun, and who knows, maybe find some way to run a few more races later this season. None of us can wait!” We were uncertain where we’d fit in. Some of the rules had been tightened and there was a push-to-pass tweak. And while three of our major rivals from last year had moved on, it was unclear where the pace of the two that remained was, relative to our essentially unchanged car.
The weekend however turned out to be one that nobody in our team or in Polo Cup will ever forget. Gio felt very good in the car out the box. We hardly touched the set-up from the get-go as Giordano went third in the first timed practice Friday morning. Then he topped the second session and stayed there for the rest of the weekend as, he went on to utterly dominate proceedings with a rare grand slam Polo Cup overall victory.
Plain Sailing to a Splendid Killarney Grand Slam Victory
“What a perfect weekend!” a delighted Giordano admitted. “Pole position, my third on the trot at Killarney, both race wins, and both fastest laps. “And I only decided to drive on Monday after being out of the car since last year!” Besides the regular race weekend routine and a tiny set-up change after the first session, the team did not touch or alter the car, besides replacing slightly cracked front brake discs between the races.
“For the rest, it was just plain sailing,” Giordano admitted. “All our efforts last year just fell into line; it took me a few laps to get back into it and the car was on rails throughout. So much so that we never even looked at any data all weekend! “We went quickest in session 2 and did not look back from there, besides for a quick fight back the lap after a brave move from Charl early on in heat two. “Yeah, I was a touch stiff after, but what a weekend! These do not come often; it was absolutely effortless.
“Massive thank you to Tork Craft Tools, Pabar Automotive Pressings, Red Earth Projects, and Bullion IT for believing in me, and for jumping aboard with us at such short notice. Also big thanks to Nian du Toit Racing. The car was just epic! Maybe we can keep this ball rolling?”
Photos: Motorsport Media
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