KARTING | Gazoo Racing Academy Karters Shine at Regional Opener

Oleratu Sekudu secured the overall Senior MAX win

The onset of the 2023 MSA Northern Regions Regional Rotax Karting Championship on Saturday, February, 4, saw with it, the return of several Toyota Gazoo Racing Junior Academy (TGRJA) drivers, for their second full regional championship season.

Under the guidance of Team Principal, Leeroy Poulter, the Academy is a racing mentorship and training programme created by Toyota South Africa, which carries the endorsement of Motorsport South Africa. With its developmental aim, the Academy hopes to support the entire motorsport community and not only junior motorsport or its own Gazoo Racing teams. This season once again sees junior drivers, Reagile “Spice” Mailula (Mini MAX) and Emma-Rose Dowling (Mini MAX) representing the Academy, with senior drivers Oleratu Sekudu (Senior MAX), Klayden-Cole (KC) Ensor Smith (Senior MAX) and Kian Grottis (DD2) donning the red, white and black GR colours.

Kian Grottis claimed the pole position and two wins in DD2

In the premier gearbox class, Grottis took pole position in what would have been a dominant day for the teenager. Unfortunately, he was excluded from the opening heat results due to a technical infringement after taking a comfortable win. Forced to start from the back of the grid for Heat 2, it took Grottis only five laps to carve his way through the field into second position. Despite closing the gap to the leader over the remaining 10 laps, he could not challenge the leader and finished in second after a gritty performance. The final heat would see him take a commanding win to end the day in sixth overall.

Reigning Junior MAX Champion, KC Ensor-Smith claimed a brace of Senior MAX victories

Reigning National Junior MAX Champion, Ensor-Smith was at his best once again following a dominant performance that saw the multiple karting champion not only take the pole position but also record victories in the opening two heats ahead of team-mate Sekudu who finished third in both those heats. A power-valve issue would, however, prevent Ensor-Smith from recording a clean sweep over his rivals, forcing him to retire on Lap 5. Sekudu capitalised on his team-mate’s misfortune to claim the final heat victory for a hat trick of wins for TGRJA. Ensor-Smith’s calamity also cost the teenager an overall podium finish (fourth). Sekudu’s consistency was, however, rewarded with the overall win.

Mini MAX driver Reagile Mailula claimed the overall runner-up position

Mailula and Dowling qualified on the second row in the morning session and spent the day chasing defending champion Caleb Odendaal. Mailula and Dowling were engaged with Kegan Martin for most of the weekend with the three tussling for the remaining podium positions. At the same time, Mailula recorded the best results for the Academy in class with three consecutive runner-up placings, Dowling finished fourth in her three heats, not before an impressive comeback drive in the final heat to work her way back up the order from eighth to finish fourth.

Emma Dowling put in a gritty performance to finish fourth overall

Next up on the TGRJA calendar is the national opening round of the South African Rotax MAX Challenge (SARMC) Championship on 3-4 March, hosted at the iDube Kart Raceway, Camperdown, KZN.