16/08/2026
Veni, vidi, vici
Where do we start really, we came to Nevada to dip our toe in the water, at a very busy time of the year for the team and with very limited resources (we had awesome partners States sides though, thank you Dave, Dan, Jim, Dennis and Bear, it wouldn't have been possible without you all!). There were only 3 team members from Century Racing, including one driver and one navigator.
The daunting task of racing 800+ km in one stretch in the notoriously harsh Nevada desert got even more daunting as we approached race day and learnt about the flash floods that hit the area on Thursday. The 46°C heat luckily relented and we could even see snow on some of the peaks around Reno.
The simple task of getting the CR6-T to Reno was no mean feat either. It travelled on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul and we found out just as we were climbing in the plane in Johannesburg that it got offloaded from the US flight. It would have to be sent to Chicago by cargo plane, then trucked to Denver where the parts pallet was waiting.
But back to race day: Mathieu Serradori Rallye and Julien Hardy lined up in 25th position and with 2min to go they realised the intercom wasn't working. A small moment of panic, a quick switch to the spare unit and they were off. A frozen GPS map right from the word go made for a cautious start through the rocky hills but after a couple of WhatsApp messages and instructions how to reset the map, they finally found their strides. Mathieu Serradori Rallye was super cautious to avoid the myriad of rocks that could puncture the tyres or take the wheel off but once into the faster terrain, the pace increased significantly.
The first dust ahead came around the road mile 130, and could only be from the trophy trucks ahead of us. It was impossible to pass them into the narrow canyons and dusty conditions but three of them eventually punctured which allowed us to keep climbing the rankings. By the halfway refuelling at mile 239, they had moved up about 15 places on the road before handing the car to Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer. The pit stop lasted 4min30, 270 litres of fuel in and 2 brand new tyres later, they were on their way. The second half was made up of the long fast straights in between some mountain passes above 2000m. The temperature also climbed to 38°C as they got close to Las Vegas, forcing them to manage the engine from time to time. Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer clocked 224kph in the last 30 miles, a new record for the CR6-T.
It was the 6th vehicle across the finish line, with a racing time of 7 hours and 51 minutes, as the sun was setting on the Nevada desert. It never missed a beat and the crews never had to get out of the car the whole day, a small victory in itself and quite unexpected. The only issue was the loss of power to the Starlink system which broadcasted live from the cockpit.
It was easy to have a bad day out there, the target was to cross the finish line and learn the ropes in America and we drove accordingly. 214 cars started the race and only 63% reached the finish.
The biggest satisfaction came 24h later when we found out that we had officially finished 5th overall, after penalties were applied. We got the class win, but to us this trophy feels well deserved sitting so far up the finishers list.
What's next in America for Century Racing? We haven't had the chance to think about it yet, but for sure the adventure is only beginning.
