The 4th round of the Execuline Formula Vee championship took place at Aldo Scribante in Port Elizabeth this weekend where the raging championship battle continued with the top four drivers being separated by only eight points. Following through from his previous successes this season, MSA development driver Zaahir Essa (Reflex Solutions) put his Lotto-provided Rhema 2 on pole position for the first heat.
After initially fighting with ex-champion Peter Hills (Renexcon), Essa stretched out a healthy lead before succumbing to the inevitable tyre degradation on the abrasive track surface. Nicholas Tennant (Tennant Life Benefits), the only driver to use his second set of new tyres of the three allocated to each driver for the season, reeled Essa in with 2 laps to go. After a thrilling duel, Essa managed to maintain his lead to the finish by just one tenth of a second.
The second heat proved to be an even tighter match. Throughout the 14 laps, Essa held off the relentless challenges from Tennant by not putting a foot wrong and placing his car in the right places at the right times. Lap after lap, Tennant would try everything he could, but Essa kept a cool head and used his tactical experience to cruise to yet another double victory.
Zaahir was happy with the result considering the situation. “This was a pretty difficult weekend as Nick had really good pace. It’s great that I came away with both wins on the old tyres, though, as this should put me on an even better footing when I won’t have to stretch the life of my new sets for the remaining races.”
Although Essa missed the start of 3 heats this season, he has been able to win every other race so far which pushes him into the lead of the championship from fourth position, with four rounds to go. Execuline Formula Vee heads to Lichtenburg on the 3rd of July.
After initially fighting with ex-champion Peter Hills (Renexcon), Essa stretched out a healthy lead before succumbing to the inevitable tyre degradation on the abrasive track surface. Nicholas Tennant (Tennant Life Benefits), the only driver to use his second set of new tyres of the three allocated to each driver for the season, reeled Essa in with 2 laps to go. After a thrilling duel, Essa managed to maintain his lead to the finish by just one tenth of a second.
The second heat proved to be an even tighter match. Throughout the 14 laps, Essa held off the relentless challenges from Tennant by not putting a foot wrong and placing his car in the right places at the right times. Lap after lap, Tennant would try everything he could, but Essa kept a cool head and used his tactical experience to cruise to yet another double victory.Zaahir was happy with the result considering the situation. “This was a pretty difficult weekend as Nick had really good pace. It’s great that I came away with both wins on the old tyres, though, as this should put me on an even better footing when I won’t have to stretch the life of my new sets for the remaining races.”
Although Essa missed the start of 3 heats this season, he has been able to win every other race so far which pushes him into the lead of the championship from fourth position, with four rounds to go. Execuline Formula Vee heads to Lichtenburg on the 3rd of July.
