Joshua Coertze looks to extend championship lead in Benoni
Bay karting star hoping to add another national title to his name
Gqeberha kart racer Joshua Coertze is itching to get back on track as he looks to extend his lead at the top of the Rok Cup SA leaderboard at the Formula K Circuit in Benoni later this month.
Coertze, who celebrated his 16th birthday at the weekend, will be hard at work fine-tuning his racing craft as he looks to add another victory to his name and take a step closer to yet another national title.
Coming off the back of a scintillating performance in Cape Town in March, where he ended the weekend at the top of the pile to take the overall win, the young racer will be eager to continue his early season form as they near the halfway mark of the four-race 2021 karting season.
Despite having very few opportunities to test his kart around the Benoni circuit, the RKT Racing driver is confident he can put on a good showing if they manage to get the set-up of his machine right.
However, he was not focused on the end result but rather just getting in some good, fast lap times.
“I am really looking forward to it and I just want to try to do my best to get more points towards the championship,” Coertze said.
“It is a fairly new track, so no-one has really had the chance to get much testing done there.
“I have been out there on a few occasions but due to so many races being held there, it makes it difficult to get some good quality testing time.”
With the Benoni track said to be slightly longer than the usual tracks on the Rok Cup circuit, Coertze said there were a few variables that could make it an exciting track to race. “Due to the track being longer, things like slipstreaming and race craft could play a big part in the outcome of the race.
“I know I can be very strong if everything comes together on race weekend.
“With the next two races on the calendar being held at iDube and, I think, Vereeniging, both tracks at which I have had good results in the past, I think the race in Benoni is where I can go out, give my best and try to score maximum points,” he said.
Asked if there were any changes they would look to make ahead of the race, Coertze said constantly changing track conditions made it challenging to plan too far ahead.
“I think we will only have an idea of whether changes needed to be made once we have been able to test the set-up.
“With a new tyre being introduced, that will be a challenge because it only came into the country in the last week or so, which means everyone has been scrambling to get a few sets to do some practice runs and get the feel of it,” the former national OKJ champion said.