Press Release from Audi South Africa
THE
penultimate round of the WesBank Super Series for 2012 saw Audi S4 quattro
racer Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme) unofficially crowned the Class A
champion in Bridgestone Production Cars for the second time. Stephen won the
2011 championship and has followed this up with another commanding victory this
year.
While Stephen has unofficially claimed the title, it has yet to be ratified by Motorsport South Africa.
“It is a great feeling to win a second championship,” says Stephen. “It is often said that the first is the most difficult. There certainly was a lot less pressure in terms of delivering this championship. One of the biggest contributors this season was reliability. We were consistently winning races or finishing on the podium which made things a lot easier. Also being the second season with the car we had a lot of development work done.
“The team worked hard between every single round because at each race we go to we try to improve at least one aspect. Everyone has pulled their weight and it all came together. I think that was the biggest thing – we never stopped working.”
Stephen started the first race from pole position but lost it to his Subaru rival in the early stages as he was not inclined to take risks with an opportunity to claim a national title at the Killarney event. This put the Audi S4 quattros in second, third, fourth and fifth by lap four of the race, with Stephen, Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine), Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) and Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun).
With the second race grid inverting the top four finishers, this put Bonafede on pole for the first time since climbing behind the wheel of an Audi S4 quattro, with Priest in second, Stephen third and Sipuka in fifth spot. By contrast to the rolling start for the first race, the second was a standing start which saw the Audi S4 quattro competitors make a stunning run off the line. By the end of the first lap, the four Audi S4 quattros were in the top four positions.
With Bonafede slipping down the order, the race led went to Priest with Stephen taking second across the line and Sipuka finishing in third place. That second race finish meant that three of the four Audi S4 quattros started from the top three positions for the final race. Bonafede set off from sixth for the 12 lap event.
Stephen, as the lead car for the final race, kept the field bunched and waited until the very last second before putting his foot down. As the field crossed the line Stephen and Priest were clearly controlling the race, with Priest chasing hard on Stephen's tail. For Sipuka and Bonafede, an on-track incident caused by Etienne van der Linde eliminated them both from the last race of the day, affecting their overall results for the day.
When Stephen's Audi S4 quattro crossed the finish line, he claimed the 2012 Bridgestone Production Car championship, Priest had achieved the results he has been confident were just a matter of time with a second overall for the day after winning race two and finishing second in race two, Sipuka had posted the fastest laptime for race one and finishing third in race two and Bonafede had achieved his first pole position in the Audi S4 quattro.
Each of the Audi S4 quattro competitors achieved at the Cape Town race meeting and are confident of finishing the season on a high note in preparation for another exciting year of racing in 2013.
While Stephen has unofficially claimed the title, it has yet to be ratified by Motorsport South Africa.
“It is a great feeling to win a second championship,” says Stephen. “It is often said that the first is the most difficult. There certainly was a lot less pressure in terms of delivering this championship. One of the biggest contributors this season was reliability. We were consistently winning races or finishing on the podium which made things a lot easier. Also being the second season with the car we had a lot of development work done.
“The team worked hard between every single round because at each race we go to we try to improve at least one aspect. Everyone has pulled their weight and it all came together. I think that was the biggest thing – we never stopped working.”
Stephen started the first race from pole position but lost it to his Subaru rival in the early stages as he was not inclined to take risks with an opportunity to claim a national title at the Killarney event. This put the Audi S4 quattros in second, third, fourth and fifth by lap four of the race, with Stephen, Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine), Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) and Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun).
With the second race grid inverting the top four finishers, this put Bonafede on pole for the first time since climbing behind the wheel of an Audi S4 quattro, with Priest in second, Stephen third and Sipuka in fifth spot. By contrast to the rolling start for the first race, the second was a standing start which saw the Audi S4 quattro competitors make a stunning run off the line. By the end of the first lap, the four Audi S4 quattros were in the top four positions.
With Bonafede slipping down the order, the race led went to Priest with Stephen taking second across the line and Sipuka finishing in third place. That second race finish meant that three of the four Audi S4 quattros started from the top three positions for the final race. Bonafede set off from sixth for the 12 lap event.
Stephen, as the lead car for the final race, kept the field bunched and waited until the very last second before putting his foot down. As the field crossed the line Stephen and Priest were clearly controlling the race, with Priest chasing hard on Stephen's tail. For Sipuka and Bonafede, an on-track incident caused by Etienne van der Linde eliminated them both from the last race of the day, affecting their overall results for the day.
When Stephen's Audi S4 quattro crossed the finish line, he claimed the 2012 Bridgestone Production Car championship, Priest had achieved the results he has been confident were just a matter of time with a second overall for the day after winning race two and finishing second in race two, Sipuka had posted the fastest laptime for race one and finishing third in race two and Bonafede had achieved his first pole position in the Audi S4 quattro.
Each of the Audi S4 quattro competitors achieved at the Cape Town race meeting and are confident of finishing the season on a high note in preparation for another exciting year of racing in 2013.
Audi South Africa
Photos by www.motorpics.co.za
More information:
Bridgestone Production Cars FB page
Michael Stephen A1 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing
Tschops Sipuka A2 - Audi S4 - Terry Moss Racing
Melvill Priest A7 - Audi S4 - VMP Motorsport
Gennaro Bonafede A32 - Audi S4 - Ferodo Racing Team / VMP Motorsport
Nieyaaz Modack A128 - Audi A4
