This past weekend (10-11 May) saw Tjaden Tromp take a podium in the third round of the DEO Formula Vee Partnered by CIM Lubricants Championship, held at Red Star Raceway, while Chloe Stuart’s weekend culminated with significant single-lap pace improvement prior to an engine failure.
Throughout Friday’s practice sessions, the duo made significant improvements, which left them confident ahead of their first race day in the series at the circuit. In Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Tromp secured eighth place on the grid, with Stuart in 10th place, directly behind him in the formation.
In Race 1, Tromp jostled for position with Jaco Smit before the latter retired just after the half-distance mark. Stuart looked competitive, setting her best time of 2:11.563 on the penultimate lap, nearly 5.5 seconds better than 24 hours earlier and while competing in the team’s spare car. However, the engine, which already had a lifespan of four years, expired on the last lap. While not going the total distance, she was classified in 13th place. With no spare power unit available at the circuit and a short gap between races, this saw her day wrapped up.
Tromp took a seventh-place finish on track, his best result to date. The second race saw him in a fierce midfield battle with an 11th-place finish.
The day’s overall results, calculated on the accumulated race time for both races, saw Tromp in seventh. In addition, the Formula Vee Association also runs a rookie class, where Tromp took the honours for the day while finishing as runner-up in the association championship. Both association results are only calculated following the completion of the race weekend.
“A solid weekend at Red Star (Raceway).” Said Tromp. “We were on the pace immediately and could focus on improving race lines at the technical circuit. Today was an excellent indication of our progress and paving the way for our future goals. Thank you to everyone who made this result possible.”
“We made significant improvements by the session.” Said Stuart. “While having competed here before, it is a totally different ball game in the Formula Vee, but we took the challenge and had a confidence-building practice day. On Saturday, I felt competitive in the first race, but sadly the engine did not go the distance. Regardless, the positives from the weekend outweigh everything else, and we are definitely on the right track.”
The fourth round of the 2024 DOE Formula Vee Partnered by CIM Lubricants Championship will occur at Zwartkops Raceway on 7-8 June.
Issued by Brandsponential on behalf of Victron Energy South Africa
Picture Caption: TC Racing
Photograph by: James Thomson
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.