Mackie Adlem’s title defence took a leap forward this past weekend (25-27 August) when he bagged a good haul of points in Round 5 of the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars Championship at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.
His success also involved another display of the Adlem Auto Racing team’s perseverance on Saturday morning. Starting his first hot lap in Qualifying, his Adlem Auto Jaguar XKR ran wide while exiting Turn 3, which resulted in him spearing straight into the wall before Turn 4. Without a competitive lap recorded, the defending six-time Champion was relegated to last on the grid for the first two of three double points-paying races of the weekend.
However, making the grid all depended on the team conducting extensive repairs to the front of the car, with only three-and-a-half hours between the qualifying session and the race. This they completed successfully.
Adlem picked off Warren Lombard and then Terry Wilford on the opening lap for jostling with Ben Morgenrood for third place on the circuit. On Lap 3, he made his way past, but the battle saw him lose ground to second-placed Julian Fameliaris and leader Thomas Reib. On Lap 5, Fameliaris, who took the lead, retired, and Reib lost pace due to gear selection issues. Adlem moved into the lead, with the race red-flagged shortly soon afterwards. Crucially for Adlem, he crossed the finish line mere seconds before the race was stopped and held onto the win.
In Race 2 on Sunday morning, he made light work of getting to the front of the field and jostled for the lead with Fameliaris to finish as runner-up.
The third race saw him start from the back of the reverse grid, based on the positions from Race 1. He quickly made his way into second place while resuming his battle with Morgenrood. However, with two laps to go, a puncture forced him into retirement, but having completed two-thirds of the race distance saw him classified in fourth place.
“A rollercoaster of a weekend at Kyalami, but we came back stronger than what we’ve started” said Adlem. “I remained positive after the crash, as I have confidence in the team. We came back strong for that win. Both of Sunday’s races were excellent, despite the bit of hard luck at the end. The glory must go to God for making this possible and allowing us to succeed at what we love doing.”
While Adlem gained a position on the points table, he now trails Fameliaris by 63 points with two rounds remaining.
The penultimate round of the 2023 Mobil 1 V8 Supercars Championship will take place at Zwartkops Raceway on 13-14 October.
Mackie Adlem and the Mobil 1 V8 Supercars field would like to acknowledge and thank African Group Lubricants for making the 2023 season possible. For more information, please visit https://aglubricants.co.za/
Issued by Motorsport Fanatix on behalf of Adlem Auto Racing