Axcil Jefferies.COM
Axcil claims two top ten finishes
at Brands
Uk, Brands Hatch, 13-15 July
Zimbabwean motor racing driver Axcil Jefferies made his
presence felt in his third Formula Two race of the season
at Brands Hatch in Kent, England, where he took a credible
eight place on Saturday and 9th on Sunday.
Jefferies went into his third event at Brand Hatch in a positive
frame of mind, after making good progress in the last round
at Spa in Belgium a couple of weeks ago.
On Friday in practice, he was 5th fastest in dry conditions and
was looking forward to a good weekend.
The heavens opened on Saturday and it rained all day, forcing the drivers and engineers to adapt the car for the conditions. He qualified 11th and finished 8th in wet conditions very similar to what he had in Belgium. Most importantly Jefferies stayed on track while many of his competitors slithered off.
Jefferies was happy to bag points again after his first points scoring in Belgium.
On Sunday, the weather turned for the better, which made the racing a lot more exciting and pleasant for the hundreds of Zimbabwean fans who turned up to support Axcil.
For qualifying the F2 drivers are allocated two sets of slick tyres and are able to use a "boost" button which increases horse power by an extra 50bhp (500hp).
Jefferies chose to use his first set to get a good feeling of track conditions, then the second set to push for his best lap time.
Qualifying was a bit disappointing for Jefferies, as he ended the session down in 14th, 0.837 off pole. “It was a very close qualifying with top 15 drivers separated by one second. Unfortunately I didn’t make the most of the new tyres, and got stuck in traffic”.
The start of the race went well with Jefferies diving to the inside on first corner and making up a position on British driver Hurst.
On the third corner, again Jefferies made another brave move passing Iranian driver Kouroush Kani and moved into 12th place.
He then paced himself well for a physical 40-minute race and picked another three places to finish 9th overall and scored more valuable points.
After the race, Jefferies commented: "It was my hardest race of my 13-year career so far. My wrists are killing me. This track is very physical on drivers with the high speed corners. "At the end, I was hanging on“.
"I am happy to have scored points in both races, and continue from where I left off in Spa. Each time I am in the car, I am learning and improving.
"I know the fans want a podium, and it will come soon. I am giving 100% and can't wait to step up to the podium, but we must all be patient.
"I feel very honoured as the (Zimbabwean Ambassador to Britain) Gabriel Machinga attended the event and gave his support and motivated me with words of wisdom and encouragement. It was fantastic to see so many Zimbabwean flags around the circuit, so a big thank you to all Zimbabweans and Afri-Hype for making this possible.
"What a pleasure to show the world what great people we are with all the smiles on all the Zimbabwean faces . . . we rocked!!!"
At Brands Hatch, Jefferies was wearing his new race suit in Zimbabwean colours, and he thanked his sponsors - Afri-Hype - for it.
Jefferies now turns his attention to the next event this coming weekend in France at the Paul Riccard Race circuit.
