Spielberg, Austria - South Africa's international contingent of racing drivers battled through an extraordinarily difficult weekend all around the world.
ADAC GT Masters star Kelvin van der Linde missed qualifying for Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday after his Audi R8 broke an engine. That meant starting from the back of the grid and battling with back markers the whole way.
Sunday wasn't much better: Van der Linde qualified 34th with the rebuilt car and had to slice his way through the field again, fighting his way up to 17th before handing the car over to Spanish team-mate Isaac Tutumlu, who brought the Audi home 19th.
Capetonian Jonathan Aberdien was very quick in practice for the Formula 4 races at Red Bull Ring but problems in knocked him down mid-grid for Race 1. Then he got into a first-corner argy-bargy, damaging the car and forcing his eventual retirement.
The second race netted Aberdein his best result of the weekend with a fighting drive from 20th on the grid to ninth, but his poor results in qualifying saw him having to start the final race of the weekend from the back of the grid again; the best he could do there was 21st - and he had to work very hard for that.
Comeback drive
Even a superb comeback drive at the Red Bull by South Africa's other ADC GT Masters star, Bentley Boy Jordan Pepper, netted him no better than third - his first podium of the season, but not what they were hoping for, after Pepper but the big Continental on pole for Saturday's Race 1 - only for the car to go sick, forcing him to miss the race.
Team-mate Daniel Abt qualified third for Sunday's Race 2, and drove a steady first shift before handing over to Pepper, who put in a spirited drive to finish third. He dedicated his first podium in this series to Gugu Zulu, who died on Kilimanjaro the previous week.
On the other side of the world another Capetonian, Stephen Smith - now based in Indianapolis - post a decent result driving his BMW in the Sport Production race at Lime Rock, Connecticut, but had to work very hard to salvage some vital championship points in the Prototype Challenge after Canadian team-mate crashed their Oreca Chevy earlier in the day.
Simpson also sported a new smiley face on his helmet, in memory of Gugu Zulu.
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