Kart racer and single-seat competitor Mikel Bezuidenhout showed impressive pace at the weekend. The fourth round of the Investchem Formula 1600 Championship was hosted at Aldo Scribante Raceway, Gqeberha.
With the championship at its halfway mark, Bezuidenhout showed a good pace throughout Friday’s practice. He carried that form through to Saturday morning’s qualifying, where he recorded his best qualifying result to date, a third position and only 0.133 seconds off the pole sitter’s pace.
While still in his rookie season, Bezuidenhout made an error at the start by leaving the car in second gear when the lights went out. This cost him drive down to the opening bend, and he lost three positions to start the second lap in sixth. Despite settling down into a good rhythm, he ran wide into Turn 1 and dropped two more places before fighting his way back through the field to finish seventh.
The second race would see the Huawei Mobile-backed driver start from fifth and following a good start this time slot into fourth. A lap later, he would lose that position and eventually finish the race in fifth to be classified in sixth overall, rounding out a solid weekend for the Gauteng teenager.
“After qualifying in third and then making an error on the start was rather disheartening. Fortunately, we were able to use our pace to fight back and make up a few places. It was pretty much the same for Race 2. Our pace was such that I could hang onto the top guys, something we were not able to do in the first few rounds of the championship. So while the results could have been better, we head to East London a lot more confident in the car,” said Mikel.
The anticipation is high as round 5 of the Investchem Formula 1600 heads to the Border Motorsport East London Grand Prix Circuit on 26-27 July.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix
Picture Caption: Mikel Bezuidenhout
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