Local racer wins Team Pesty the Class E Backdraft Roadster championship in the South African Endurance Series
Michael Kernic thanked team Pesty racing for making this opportunity happen and giving him the chance to race and win this prestigious event.
Racer Michael Kernic, from Sharonlea, had the opportunity to join Pesty Racing for the two endurance races at Kyalami Raceway as part of the South African Endurance Series.
This was their final two rounds of racing for the year and championship, being rounds five and six. Round five was on Friday morning, being a 03:20:00 race, and round six, the famous 9-hour event on Saturday. Team Pesty racing was fighting for the Class E Backdraft Roadster championship in the series, and had to win both races in order to win the championship title.
Read more: Local racer has a few hiccups at Zwartkops Raceway, but looks forward to future races
Kernic explained that their qualifying on Thursday for the 03:20:00 race went well. They managed to qualify second in class which was a good place to start the race.
“Harm Pretorius, my teammate, started the race and did well, just managing the car and pace. The other drivers were pushing their cars hard, so, we dropped to 5th after an hour. I jumped in and did what I could while keeping around the pace that we all agreed on. I managed to make up positions and get us back up to first place. We won the race. It was really great to win for the team. This was also perfect for their championship.”
At the qualifying on Friday, Kernic and the team got second place and made it to the prestigious Kyalami 9-hour event.
Pretorius started and did a good job keeping pace. Kernic jumped in at 01:15:00 and made-up positions to get the team back to second place in class and 9th overall.
“I was just really enjoying the race and the challenge, and the car was so much fun to drive. It was mega. After my stint time I pulled in and handed over to another driver who then held second place and kept the leader in class in sight, as well as managing pace. It was all going so well, we were in line to win, but the car had gear issues.”
Also read: Sharonlea racer impresses at Zwartkops Top of the Hill Challenge
They fell back to fifth, but after making temporary fixes to the car they got back to the second position.
“Then the lead car broke an engine, so, now we were in the lead of class E, with the gearbox trouble. We had to make this car get to the end, best we could, if we wanted to win.”
Kernic added that he was put in with the orders to do a good pace and bring it home. “I did so and managed to be faster than I thought I would, managing to make a bit more of a gap to second place also securing our first-place position.
“We won Class E in the 9-hour event. It was an amazing and really awesome feeling. The team were overjoyed. It actually was the perfect end to a hard day. Absolutely unbelievable, and this win also brought my teammates the Class E championship for the South African Endurance Series, so, well done to them and Team Pesty racing.”
Follow us on our Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok pages. Join our WhatsApp group for any story ideas you may have.
Related article: Blairgowrie-based racer gets Ferrari experience
