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DRIVING IN THE FAST LANE . . . Young Zimbabwean motor racing driver Axcil Jefferies is caught here during and after his debut appearance in the American Indy Lights racing at Mid-Ohio in the United States at the weekend

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
FOLLOWING almost a seven-month-long hiatus, young Zimbabwean motor racing driver Axcil Jefferies got back behind the wheel in style in his debut appearance in the American Indy Lights racing at Mid-Ohio, United States, at the weekend. A revitalised Jefferies (19), who is now contracted to Starting Grid Inc, an American motorsport group, and to Bryan Herta Autosport Indycar Team, drove brilliantly in the weekend’s race to take a credible seventh place as he sent a clear message out that he is really one for the future.

He was piloting BHA’s No.28 Dallara/Firestone, sponsored by Starting Grid Inc.
Starting Grid Inc has been the facilitator of a motorsports diversity initiative in partnership with American Honda.
At the weekend, Jefferies first qualified in position six and finally finished the race in seventh place in his American Indy Lights debut and he was satisfied with his overall performance.

Speaking from Mid-Ohio yesterday, Jefferies said: “As a team we need to understand the tyres a bit more. Massive thanks to Starting Grid, American Honda and the guys at Bryan Herta Autosport for the opportunity.”

Jefferies and his technical crew arrived in Mid-Ohio on Thursday and started practising on Friday.
He said Friday’s practice started off very well, “with us running in P1 for most of the session then finishing off P3”.

“However, we were using old tyres. On Saturday we bolted on new tyres for qualifying and all of a sudden we were suffering high speed understeer. For those that don’t know what understeer is; it is basically when you turn the steering wheel but the car does not respond sharp enough so you don’t get enough turn into the corner (meaning you can crash out). So due to the understeer problems we qualified in position six (P6).

“On Sunday’s race day, I had a decent start but was blocked into the first corner and lost a place. With the car still suffering the tyre problems, I battled during the race and managed to bring the car home in seventh place. I race with Bryan Herta Autosport and they have not run an Indy Lights car this year, so they are still trying to understand the tyres. It takes lots of testing to really understand how the tyres work to optimise the performance.

“I had a tough weekend but hope I have once again made Zimbabweans proud and hopefully we can get a podium place in the near future. I must thank Starting Grid Inc and American Honda for the opportunity, and they have said they will meet to discuss a possible sponsorship for another round in Houston in October and maybe Baltimore next month,” Jefferies said.

The young Zimbabwean driver was yesterday expected to leave the USA for the United Kingdom before flying back home to Zimbabwe tomorrow.
Jefferies, who is scheduled to arrive at Harare International Airport at 5:10pm tomorrow aboard an Emirates Airlines flight, is returning home to Zimbabwe to play golf in the UNWTO Invitational tournament in Victoria Falls as Zimbabwe’s sporting and tourism ambassador.

The UNWTO Invitational tournament will be played this weekend in Victoria Falls.
“I can’t wait to be back on home soil. See you all soon,” Jefferies said as he was preparing to leave the United States for London yesterday.

Meanwhile, Gabby Chaves led every lap on the way to taking his first Indy Lights win at Mid-Ohio, although the Schmidt Peterson driver was made to work for the victory.

Chaves led fellow front-row starter Peter Dempsey off the line and spent the opening half of the race building a lead that stretched to as much as three seconds before Dempsey regained some ground through lapped traffic.

But the real twist came late in the race when debutant Giancarlo Serenelli spun and brought out the safety car, forcing Chaves to defend his lead on a restart with four laps remaining.

Despite pressure from Dempsey, the Colombian held on to cross the line 0.3 seconds ahead.
Jack Hawksworth survived a tight battle for third with points leader Carlos Munoz, who did well to be fighting for a podium in the first place after a huge early spin dropped him back to last.

While he managed a decent job of damage limitation it was a different story for Sage Karam, who had come into the weekend sitting second in the points but was unable to make much progress from his starting spot near the back and finished eighth.

In Saturday’s qualifying race Chaves triumphed in a tough battle with Dempsey to secure pole before Sunday’s main race.
On Saturday, the Colombian secured the top spot on his final lap with a 1m13.3306s, beating Dempsey – who also saved his best lap for last – by 0.136 seconds.
But the pair had dominated most of the session, regularly trading fastest times right through the final 20 minutes.

Hawksworth’s final lap was good enough to place him third on the grid, a further 0.1s behind Dempsey, with  Munoz recovering from a quiet start to the session to get himself onto the second row.

Zimbabwe’s Jefferies, making his debut at the weekend with BHA, was among the leaders early on before being shuffled back to sixth, just behind Zach Veach.
Results 40 laps

Pos Driver     Team     Time/Gap
1. Gabby Chaves Schmidt    52m22.5112s
2. Peter Dempsey   Belardi         +0.3508s
3. Jack Hawksworth      Schmidt         +1.6782s
4. Carlos Muoz          Andretti        +2.3369s
5. Zach Veach           Andretti        +2.5952s
6. Juan Pablo Garcia    Moore           +3.5719s
7. Axcil Jefferies      Herta           +4.2458s
8. Sage Karam           Schmidt         +4.9242s
9. Jorge Goncalvez      Belardi         +5.4682s
10. Matthew Di Leo   MDL/Dragffy     +7.2483s
11. Giancarlo Serenelli  Belardi          +2 laps