Team PAR Shines at Phakisa

Team PAR shines at Phakisa

The Pro Auto Rubber racing team headed to Phakisa for the much anticipated endurance event this past weekend. As always, this race was all about strategy. The team had to find a balance between pace and tyre wear, and the execution of the mandatory pit stop was pivotal to ensuring a good result.

Qualifying went without any issues – both Shane and Andre chose to use old tyres in qualifying to save as much rubber for the race as possible. Shane qualified 2^nd in class C, while Andre managed to qualify in 4^th in class A. This would then see Andre starting in 19^th position and Shane in 28^th position in the field of 35 cars.

The start of the race went without any issues, and our drivers set about executing their plan for the race. Andre was going with a very aggressive strategy, and by lap 15 he was running 3^rd in class and 11^th overall. As per the plan he pitted on lap 16 and the team from 4J’s Auto pulled off one of the best pit stops of the weekend – after only 2 minutes and 8 seconds Andre was out of the box with the tank filled and 2 new tyres fitted.

Shane’s strategy entailed conserving tyres by running a consistent pace, and only pressing hard when needed. He pulled into the pits on lap on lap 29 (running 2^nd in class and 11^th overall at this point), and once again the 4J’s team executed a perfect stop with Shane leaving the box in less than 2 minutes after fueling and a wheel change.

Andre’s race was going perfectly to plan, and had now moved up to 2^nd in class and 6^th overall with his strategy starting to pay dividends. But sadly on lap 29 he ran into an issue – as he exited turn 2 and tried to shift to 4^th gear, the gear lever broke. He completed the lap in 3^rd gear, pulled into the pits and asked the 4J’s team to put the car into 4^th gear. He somehow managed to get the car moving in 4^th, and now had no option other than to complete the race in only one gear.

Shane was now still running 2^nd in class, and closing in on the class leader. He executed the pass, and opened a sizeable gap. He ran the rest of the race with no issues, and went on to win class C by a sizeable margin, and finishing a very impressive 8^th overall.

Andre soldiered on in 4^th gear, running about 6 seconds per lap slower than earlier in the race. He dropped down to 3^rd in class, but the class leader ran into tyre trouble and had to stop a second time for tyres. This saw Andre completing the race in 2^nd position in class A, and 5^th overall.

These amazing results were further complimented when the Index of performance results were released – Shane was classified 4^th overall (2^nd in class), and Andre 8^th overall (2^nd in class).

Congratulations to our drivers with their fantastic results, but the stars of the day were undoubtedly the pit crew from 4J’s Auto. Without their fantastic efforts, none of these results could have been achieved - we tip our hats to you!

Have a look at the Pit Stop on our YouTube channel!