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JOHANNESBURG — Remember Axcil Jefferies, the fresh-faced 10-year-old kid from Zimbabwe who used to fly into OR Tambo International Airport with a 60cc Comer GP Junior engine in his hand baggage? His talent was apparent immediately and it didn’t take long before he joined the Castrol Toyota Motorsport Development team.
He repaid their faith by winning the Mini-Max and Junior-Max titles in quick succession in 2007/8 here in South Africa.
With limited options available to him in South Africa he looked abroad and won a BMW Scholarship to contest the 2009 Asia Pacific Formula BMW championship.

He ended the season as Rookie champion and third in the overall championship standings with two wins, eight podium finishes, one pole position and two fastest laps.

From Asia he set his sights on furthering his career in Europe, but a lack of funding thwarted his progress so he moved to England. Despite winning a MSA scholarship to study Sports Science at Loughborough University, he was unable to secure a drive until 2012.

With last minute backing from Afri-Hype he took on star names in Formula Two and impressed with eight top-10 finishes. Despite missing the first four rounds he was eventually classified 12th in the championship standings and became a JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons Honouree. One of the spin-offs of the season was being featured in a fast growing PC game called RFactor2 being developed by Image Space Incorporated.

Described as a simulation video game, RFactor2 has features such as weather effects, reflections and accurate shadows and a variety of other exciting elements. Currently Jefferies is in Indianapolis, United States, competing in the Indy Lights series. Gaming and other endorsements contribute a large part of the sporting value chains.

RFactor2, which runs on the Microsoft Windows platform, is a “heralding catalyst” to many markets and global consumers for featured personalities such as Jefferies and their partners.

Afri-Hype lead sponsor and partner to Jefferies also had their brand feature in the video game screenshots also accessible online (www.ractor2.net) giving them a head start from a business and brand equity perspective. — AFP.