Holliday Jnr made steady progress throughout Friday’s practice sessions; finishing the afternoon third session on top of the time sheets. Saturday morning’s qualifying session greeted the field with a wet track during which he recorded the sixth fastest time. Holliday Jnr, who doesn’t have much experience in wet conditions was however looking forward to a strong performance in the day’s two races.
With the circuit completely dry at the time of the first race, Holliday Jnr rapidly made his way to third position in the running order. Although he was not close enough to the leading duo of Stiaan Kriel and Jacques Smith to mount a challenge for position, he had the benefit of clean air while not having to drive defensively. This saw him recording the fastest lap of the race to add another point to his tally; along with his third-place finish.
More crucially, this also ensured a pole position start for the afternoon’s second race. Holliday Jnr however soon lost the lead to Stiaan Kriel, but proceeded to hound him for the position throughout the eight lap race while keeping the persistent Smith behind him. He finished the race as runner up closely behind winner Kriel. His efforts throughout the two races also saw him finishing in the overall third place for the day.
“We got our season off to a good start with the exact strategy that we set out for ourselves prior to the weekend” said Holliday Jnr after the race. “We’ve also picked up the an additional point for the fastest lap in Race 1. In a category where everyone is so closely-matched, this can often be the decider at the end of the season.”
The weekend however took a sad turn following an incident in another race during which videographer Nick Louw lost his life. Holliday Jnr and Monitor Net would like to express their deepest condolences to his family.
Holliday Jnr’s next outing will see him competing at Zwartkops Raceway in Round 2 of the 2019 MotorMart VW Challenge on March 8-9.
Story and picture by Reynard Gelderblom – Monitor Net