Back in December, we at NAG were honoured to sit down with Chloe Stuart and Tjaden Tromp, two young Motorsport Rising Stars, to talk about TC Racing, a motor racing team founded by them.
At the time, Chloe and Tjaden were fourteen years old and held more accolades than years of being alive. In that post, which you can read by following the link here, we said we’d be keeping up with how the two of them were doing and here’s us making good on that promise.
Over the first weekend in March, Chloe Stuart rose to the DOE Formula Vee, partnered by CIM Lubricants, debut challenge at Zwartkops Raceway.
However, due to a technicality in when Tjaden Tromp turns 15, he was unable to join his teammate on the track.
This meant that even though both drivers have competed in main circuit single-seater races in the past 18 months, only Stuart was allowed to participate in Round 1, leaving Tjaden Tromp relegated to pit and support duties.
Tjaden Tromp didn’t let this development get him down, though, and was quoted saying:
It is a bitter pill to swallow, but we will not let this demotivate us. Since Thursday, there have been a host of discussions regarding this. I cannot comment much on those at present due to the matter’s sensitive nature.
I know you all want to know the situation, but I want to ask you to be patient for now. We will say more when we can.
I know various people will have different opinions about the matter, most of this emotionally-driven. This humbles me to see that I already have such a solid support base.
However, I want to ask that we keep commentary on what is relevant only. This issue will play out, one way or the other, or once we get to July.
For now, the main focus will be on Chloe’s campaign. This is why I’m also staying around this weekend. We are a team; we came up together as a team, and I will support her progress for now.
As for Chloe Stuart, the youngest female competitor at a regional level in South Africa, her debut was more than promising.
As this was her first official chance to establish herself, she displayed a level-headed performance with consistent times registered in the day’s three practice sessions.
Apart from finishing both races, Chloe Stuart came in 13th on the grid in Saturday morning’s qualifying session before taking 14th and 13th place in the respective two races.
You can’t approach every situation with all guns blazing, particularly not in racing. We are taking the car home in one piece and are returning with loads of valuable data from the debut weekend.
Given that the final decision to compete in Formula Vee was only made about a week prior, we are indeed delighted with the result. We paved the way for great things to come.
TC Racing’s next outing in DOE Formula Vee will be at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in April over the weekend of the 11th.
Stay tuned for more updates on this fantastic duo.