By Avenash Ramzan
On a night where superior driving tactics ruled the roost, Teams Monster Energy and Gizmos and Gadgets/iRide emerged category champions of the second monthly Endurance Rental Cup, hosted by GT Motorsports in partnership with Secure Innovations and Concepts.
With soca music blaring from the neighbouring National Park, heating up the eve of Mashramani, the 48 drivers on show had to maintain their focus in what was another competitive showdown at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club facility.
The final leg of the 600lb Class was sizing up to be a humdinger between Carlos Rodrigues of Team Monster Energy and Stephon Jeffrey of Team Brava, before the latter crashed into the tyre wall at high speed with just four minutes remaining on the clock, effectively ending his chances of copping a win for his team.
Rodrigues and Jeffrey exchanged the lead in an exciting duel during the final 20 minutes, and their daredevilry had the crowd fully involved in anticipation of an extremely close finish. However, that was not to be as Jeffrey lost control around a turn, and though he managed to complete the race, he had lost valuable time getting back on the track.
Rodrigues and his team, comprising Kian Jabour and Antonio DaSilva, completed the mandatory one hour of racing with a total of 85 laps, followed by Team Speed (Kamal Seebarran, Rameez Mohamed and Clint Seebarran), also with 85 laps, but they were behind the leader when the clock stopped.
Team E-Racing, boasting the trio of Marcel Proffit, Jason Gonsalves and Denzel Hopkinson, completed the podium with 84 laps. Team Brava (Stephon Jeffrey, Kristian Jeffrey and Shan Seejattan), meanwhile, had to settle for fourth.
In the 500lb Class, Team Gizmos and Gadgets/iRide made it two wins in two months, proving that their success in the same category in January was no fluke. For the second time in the Endurance Rental Cup, the team of Matthew Phang, John Phang and Steven Nobrega started on pole, and once again they repeated as champions.
The trio completed 87 laps in the mandatory one hour of racing. The newly branded Team iCool of Matthew Vieira, Elliott Vieira and Marcel Proffit took second spot, followed by Team Derick Auto Sales, comprising Shane Haly, Michael Whitehead and Sachin Ramotar, in third.
Matthew Phang recorded the fastest lap time in the 500lb Class (39.8 seconds), while Kristian Jeffrey was fastest in the 600lb Class with 40.4 seconds. They both received trophies, compliments of Auto Fashion, and a Karcher sweeper each.
Apart from some beautiful trophies, put up Secure Innovation and Concepts, and bragging rights for one month, the two category winners also received iCool tokens from ‘All in One’ Snack and Beverage Depot.
The exceptional driving on the track aside, patrons were treated to samples of iCool Juice Drink and Monster Energy Drink. Attention will now switch to the first-ever Georgetown Grand Prix, set for Friday (February 24) at GT Motorsports track at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club compound, commencing at 18:00h.
