Nov 30th 2014 – Team Fabienne Lanz Racing headed to the track at the Rivers, Vereeniging. just a few weeks ago at the last race of the Northern Regions Karting Championship.
Fabienne’s team, including her young aspiring junior drivers are usually based at Zwartkops track, and had a challenging race weekend ahead due to the different track layout at Vereeniging additionally Fabienne personally had a tough job on her hands as she entered the weekend with the Championship title in her sights in this double points final at Vereeniging.
Fabienne knew she was facing a big challenge as the main contenders had been very dominant at this track all year. Laying 2nd in the championship with a chance to win the title, there would be no room for errors.
Leading up to the event, the team had done some extensive chassis set up changes on the DD2 as the kart’s handling characteristic were so different at the Vereeniging kart circuit than the higher grip level of Zwartkops.
Throughout the year, Fabienne had limited test time in the DD2 kart so learning the structure of the new Mojo tyre proved challenging, nonetheless, the team did manage to find an extremely good set up and Fabienne was on a charge in the final heat of the year.
Starting qualifying in 4th, Fabienne had a big task ahead of her, working aggressively from heat to heat. The first heat she was a little off pace and came in 3rd. The 2nd heat did not go according to plan and she fell down to 5th.
For the last heat she made some critical changes, a calculated risk based on her experience. It was the right decision as Fabienne charged through the field, raising eyebrows as she made overtaking manoeuvres and stunning the crowd. She got up to 2nd position, but lost it as she was faster in the first half of the lap, and her rivals were faster in the 2nd sector. Finally just as she was getting into a rhythm the race was cut short due to thundershowers and lack of daylight. So in just eight laps Fabienne had worked her way to finish 3rd. The Title for the championship was gone, but Fabienne brought it home as Runner Up and DD2 Vice Champion.
This was another superb effort by the feisty female racing driver. Another demonstration of her determination and going the extra mile and putting in the extra hours in the pursuit of victory.
In her junior training camp, and starting from smallest class, the Baby Kart featured Loapi Kukama and Samara Garland. Loapi always keeping his cool and staying out of trouble. Samara on the other hand had her hands full as she pushed herself to the max and finished 5th for the day. An outstanding performance by the young lady, never missing an opportunity to pounce and take a position where she can.
Following the Baby Kart class, is the Maxterino Category, where 13 year old Tiago Rebelo is entered. Being very tall for the class, he faces a lot challenges, quite the opposite than the light drivers have.
He will be moving up a class soon and moving to the Junior Rotax Category. With the Race Team behind him all the way, there is no room for him to doubt himself. This youngster has a lot in store for us in the years to come.
Billy Botha, the 14 year old star, has not raced for a big part of 2014 and has come back with a strong ending to the year, showing that he means business. Billy diced the other competitors all the way, especially in heat 2 in the thundershower. Having a superb start in heat 3, starting from 4th, he had an unfortunate accident in the chicane after the start and had to retire.
That concludes racing for the 2014 season for Fabienne and her junior team as they head into the festive holidays, but they will be hard at work in the kart shop and training rooms with Fabienne ready for next year to take more victories for the team.