Zimbabwe motor racing star Axcil Jefferies and Kessel Racing team settled for second in this year’s Asian Lemans Series despite dominating the two-weekend races in the Pro-Am class at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
The Kessel Racing team that also includes Roman Ziemian and Francesco Zollo completed a double win in their Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo against the odds at Jefferies’ home course where he is the senior race instructor.
However, it is the SPS Automotive Performance team comprising Valentin Pierburg, Ian Loggie and Mikael Grenier in a Mercedes AMG GT3 who won this Asian leg of the 4Hour Asian Lemans Series after the two races in Dubai the previous week.
Jefferies’ Swiss team and SPS Automotive Performance finished level on points but the championship was handed to the latter.
Against all odds we won again yesterday! Amazing effort from the whole team and we can be extremely proud of what we achieved in this @asianlemansseries championship.
📸 @deepspiritphoto pic.twitter.com/Soc9YRTupj— Axcil Jefferies (@Axciljefferies) February 21, 2022
“Against all odds we won again yesterday (Sunday)! Amazing effort from the whole team and we can be extremely proud of what we achieved in this Asian Lemans Series championship. Two wins and two second-place finishes had us joint on points with the Mercedes but as they won the first two races, the championship went to them!,” Jefferies wrote on his social media platforms.
“Nevertheless a great achievement and I want to thank all Kessel Racing for all the hard work (in the) last two weeks and of course my two teammates and brothers Roman Ziemian and Francesco Zollo!,” the 27-year-old driver added.
In the Saturday race, Kessel Racing suffered an early setback after the car spun around on the first lap but managed to recover and win the race.
It has been a brilliant start to the 2022 racing season for Jefferies who won the 24Hour Dubai Hour Race at the Dubai Autodrome and the 2022 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit in January
Jefferies is also set to compete in the GT Open series which comprises seven races at different circuits in Europe and is scheduled to start at Estoril in Portugal on 1 May, with his Kessel Racing team.