Dean Venter (TEU Southern Africa Swift) will be joined by about a dozen rivals when he gets the defence of his Investchem Formula Ford Regional Championship underway at Red Star Raceway on Saturday, 10 March 2018.
Venter, who secured the 2017 title at the final round at Kyalami back in early December, will certainly not have things all his own way at the Mpumalanga circuit. Andrew Horne (Xena Chemicals / Budd Power van Diemen) is likely to be one of his fiercest rivals. The multiple former champion switched from the Royale that had served him so well to a van Diemen. While he was on the pace almost straight away, a new car always takes a bit of time to get set up exactly like the driver wants it and with a year’s experience under his belt, Horne and the van Diemen are serious title contenders.
David Jermy (Lime Chilli Consulting van Diemen) ended 2017 third in the championship and will be looking to improve on that in 2018. Jermy has shown his has the pace to be a race winner but needs to find a bit more consistency to achieve this goal.
Jeff Gable (Jacquet Racing van Diemen) is another who has the pace to run at the front of the pack but a few technical issues in 2017 ruined his chances of a top-three finish in the championship. Cameron O’Connor (Repro Supplies Mygale), who normally competes in the national Investchem Formula 1600 series, will also be on the grid at Red Star Raceway. The youngster is more than capable of upsetting the order at the front of the field.
Alex Vos in the Ecurie Zoo Swift is another of the younger drivers who has shown a turn of speed that allows him to run with the front pack. He will also be aiming for at least a top-three finish.
Allen Meyer (van Diemen), James Reeves (Ray), Dalan Holton (Debella Finance van Diemen) and Steve Venter in the second TEU Southern Africa Swift have all been in points scoring positions in the past and will all be aiming to do so again at Red Star.
As usual, the drivers will have a qualifying session on Saturday morning with two 8-lap races following later in the day.