By: Reynard Gelderblom
After a week in which mechanical maladies threatened to bring Pesty Racing’s 2021 South African Endurance Series season opener to an early halt, the team bounced back to record a good result at Dezzi Raceway this past weekend (April 9-10).
The weekend saw the driving trio of Harm Pretorius, Barend Pretorius and Eduan Bester start their second season behind the wheel of their Backdraft Racing Roadster in Class E of the series.
Leading up to the race weekend, the team had to solve a couple of engine-related problems with the help of Club23. After working against the clock, the team departed for Port Shepstone on Thursday, but later than what was initially planned. After setting up their pit area on Friday morning only, they soon discovered that an oil leak was not yet resolved. They were able to determine the cause and conduct repairs, but not without losing out on an hour and a half’s vital practice time in the first three sessions.
With the car now running, it allowed each driver merely one session to familiarize themselves with the circuit before Harm Pretorius conducted the Qualifying duties. He set the ninth-fastest time in Class E.
The first of Saturday’s two three-hour heats to make up the Dezzi 6 Hour started at 07:30. Meanwhile, the team discovered that the battery did not hold a charge. Initially, this was suspected to be related to the alternator itself, but after Harm Pretorius brought the car into the pits early during the race, they isolated this to a fuse and conducted a temporary repair which allowed the trio to finish the first race in eighth-place after making up lost time.
The two-hour break allowed them the opportunity to have this issue completely resolved. Harm Pretorius again conducted the opening stint with Bester and Barend Pretorius seeing out the driving duties. The team delivered a level-headed performance to finish the heat as runners-up, matching their best single-race performance in the series from 2020 at the same circuit.
The format of the opening round however sees the accumulated time for both races determine the final result used for the championship. The trio’s efforts throughout Saturday saw them classified in fourth place.
The second round of the South African Endurance Series will take place at Border Motorsport East London Grand Prix Circuit on May 21-22.