Born to Race: Jeffrey Kruger

Motorsport experts and commentators tend to have wide ranging criteria for measuring and identifying true race driving excellence.

Some believe that single seater expertise should top the list, others that only very powerful cars bring out the best in racers, and still others that only drivers who can win in the face of massive competition should be considered great. The experts agree on one thing though – versatility should count among a great driver’s attributes.

Which is why Jeffrey Kruger, at the age of 27, appears on everybody’s A-list. To date, Kruger has won races in karts, modern front-wheel drive cars, modern rear-wheel drive sports cars, historic rear wheel drive sports cars and massively engined, rear-wheel drive V8 Legend Saloon Cars.

He has also won national championships in South Africa, India and Poland. Jeffrey and his older sister Robyn grew up in the motorsport arena, with their father John racing a Mazda 3 and a Ford Laser in the then hugely successful Stannic Group N category.

“In the 80s and early 90s we would go to circuits as a family, and apart from playing soccer for a while at the age of eight, I always knew motor racing would be my choice of sport,” Jeffrey says.

Kruger won the 2018 South African Polo Cup championship overall, giving the Universal Health team its very first national title. Picture: Dave Ledbitter

Both Kruger siblings found themselves racing karts by 1999, and Jeffrey clinched the 2007 Northern Regions Junior Max title overall. He progressed to the Inland Superhatch title chase in a Ford Fiesta, followed by an ex-Polo Cup car.

“Switching from a kart to a saloon car felt all wrong – the tin-top did not brake, turn in, grip or accelerate efficiently, and I had to find a whole new way of going quickly. After a while I figured it out, though, and it basically came down to the same things – smoothness and consistency.

Being brave does not make you quick or efficient – race car driving is an exercise in precision,” he adds. In time, young Kruger started to earn silverware in inland regional racing and his sister moved to the national arena, taking on the Engen Polo Cup title chase.

“That was the obvious way to go, both from a financial and learning point of view. Volkswagen created the Polo Cup discipline to give young drivers a ladder of opportunity – a role it plays extremely well to this day,” says father John Kruger.

Thus Jeffrey went Polo Cup racing in 2013, finishing fifth in the title chase. More importantly, he found out that India ran a Polo Cup title chase and that one could go and tackle it at reasonable cost. That happened the next year, and the Indian history books reflect that one J Kruger from South Africa won the 2014 Volkswagen Castrol Cup via two wins and 12 podium places over 14 races.

Kruger has won the Inland Lotus Challenge championship overall in his Universal Health Birkin 7. Picture: Dave Ledbitter

“They decided they could not crown a foreigner as Indian champion, and Volkswagen instead offered me a fully paid season in the next year’s Volkswagen Golf Cup of Poland.” Again, Jeffrey was thrown in at the deep end.

“I had to learn a whole bunch of new circuits, every time in two 30-minute practice sessions before official qualifying, while the Golf GTI was something to get used too as well. It also rained at more than half of the events, teaching me a lot about driving on treacherous surfaces. In South Africa, you might experience rain at one or two race meetings during the year, but in Poland there is always a 50% chance of a wet race,” he recalls.

He adapted rather well, winning the series overall via six victories, 10 podium places and three quickest lap times in 12 races. Sadly, the title win did not generate any more paid-for drives overseas, so Jeffrey and father John, who travelled to all of the Polish events, had to return and resume racing here at home.

Kruger’s overseas exploits did not go unnoticed – on returning to South Africa the Zwartkops Raceway’s Peter du Toit invited him to drive a 1969 Chevron B8 in the series for historic sports cars. That led to various invitational drives in the venue’s SKF Pre-1966 Legend Saloon Car championship, incorporating cars like a 1965 Chevelle and a 1966 Plymouth Baracuda.

Kruger still drives the old cars whenever possible. “The historic cars come as a wake-up call – they have no electronic driving aids, ABS brakes or automatic gearboxes. The big V8s have huge steering wheels, brutally hard clutch pedals and gear changing is by no means easy. You have to love it – it reminds you how tough race car drivers were in the sixties and makes you appreciate the technology we get to work with now.”

Jeffrey regularly gets invited to race behemoth cars in races for Pre-1966 Legend Saloon Cars. This is a 1966 Plymouth Baracuda. Picture: RacePics

He also acquired, with the assistance of sponsor Universal Health, a Birkin 7, with which he has clinched the Inland regional Lotus Challenge championship the last two years.

In 2017 Kruger finished third in the South African Polo Cup Series and he won it overall in 2018, after a season-long fight with Tasmin Pepper and Jonathan Mogotsi. Last year he finished second, beaten to the title by Bradley Liebenberg in the very last of the season’s 18 races.

Interrupted by Covid-19, Jeffrey is set to race a new Volkswagen Polo GTC2 in the 2020 South African Global Touring Car championship in the Universal Health colour scheme. “That is the next logical step up and again Volkswagen is providing an affordable, accessible car that can be used as a step of opportunity,”

He would love to go racing overseas again, but is realistic about the formidable financial implications. “If the 9-Hour race returns to Kyalami this year, I would love to get a drive, which may just open a door or two – who knows?” he says.

Jeffrey has a degree in Mechatronics and works for BMW South Africa as a Low Cost Intelligence Automation engineer. His dream car is the new BMW M2, but he currently gets around in a Kia Sorento.

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