Durban's Cristiano Morgano will drop the clutch today (Thursday) on his attempt to win an unprecedented fourth Rotax Max Challenge Grand Final.
He has already won three titles in what is effectively the World Championship of karting, the most competitive series in the world, with more than 35 000 active Rotax Max karters competing around the world.
Morgado won his first Rotax Max Challenge title in 2003, in the Senior Max category. Since then he has won two DD2 Gearbox class Masters titles, for drivers 32 years and older, and is the reigning DD2 Masters champion.
The first qualifying races for the 10-strong South African team will start from 1pm Louisiana time (9pm in South Africa) today at the Nola Raceway in New Orleans, with the finals to be run on Saturday.
The South African team is:
Junior Max: Julian van der Watt (Western Province) and Jordan Sherratt (KwaZulu-Natal).
Senior Max: Luke Herring (Western Province) and Nathan Perkins (Gauteng).
DD2 Gearbox: Luca Canderle (KwaZulu-Natal) and Ryan Frost (Gauteng)
DD2 Masters: Cristiano Morgado (KwaZulu-Natal), Lourens van Rensburg (Western Province), Richard van Heerden (KwaZulu-Natal) and Connor Hughes (Western Province).
The other South African most likely to succeed this weekend is another KwaZulu-Natal driver, Luca Canderle, the 2013 African Open DD2 Class winner. Canderle finished a creditable ninth (in a field of 72!) in the DD2 class at the 2012 Grand Finals in Portugal thanks to a tremendous fight-back through the field after being punted off the circuit in an earlier race.
NON-STOP PRESSURE
Staying out of trouble in the qualifying races on Thursday and Friday will be vital for all the drivers, especially the South Africans, most of whom are unaccustomed to the non-stop pressure of a three-day meeting.
The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals is arguably the most competitive motorsport championship of any kind in the world. To qualify, a driver has to have won either a National or an International championship in the world-wide Rotax series in that particular year.
If for any reason a champion from one of the 67 countries taking part this year could not travel to the United States, their place has been filled by the runner-up in their National series.
PLAYING FIELDS DON’T GET ANY MORE LEVEL
Thus, each and every one of the 288 competitors has already finished at least second in a National series - unlike many other karting championships, where competitors' eligibility is often based on their financial ability to afford a slot on the grid.
More than that, all the karts and equipment are identical and brand new; each driver draws his kart, engine and tyres in a raffle, while Austrian engine company Rotax, the driving force (if you'll forgive the pun) behind the Max Challenge also provides each of the competitors with a kart trolley, fuel and oil for the whole weekend.