Press Release from Audi South Africa
THE quartet of Audi S4 quattro race cars head for the final round of the
2012 Bridgestone Production Car Championship with the championship already
decided for this season. Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun)
claimed the title at the penultimate round of the WesBank Super Series with his
Audi S4 quattro.
With Stephen's 52 point advantage over his nearest rivals ahead of the season finale at Kyalami, the gap cannot be closed with the total number of available points remaining in the championship. This means Stephen will have officially claimed a consecutive championship victory when the season ends in Gauteng next week.
The Audi S4 quattro racers of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine), Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) and Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) will each be racing hard for their final positions of the season.
In the case of Priest, the 2012 season has delivered a mixed bag of results. Priest remained confident that the pace he has been building would show the results he has been aiming for – and this happened at the previous event, held at Killarney.
Here Priest won, finished second and claimed third, putting his Audi S4 quattro on the podium in each of the three races held at that event. This translated into second place overall on the day – exactly the kind of results he has been working toward.
For Stephen's teammate, Sipuka, a fairly consistent season has seen him amongst the points at each of the events. Depending on the outcome at Kyalami, this could see him finish amongst the top five for the year.
A third place finish in one of the races at Killarney indicates that Sipuka has the pace to make that happen, so a fight to the finish from him might just see a change in the points standings in this late stage of the season.
Bonafede will use the final race meeting of 2012 to continue in his quest for a strong season in 2013. With just a few race meetings under his belt in the Audi S4 quattro he has opted for the 2012 events to be an extended testing and training programme.
This will all be groundwork for his racing efforts next year and a full championship onslaught. Having moved from a front-wheel drive Volkswagen Golf GTI into an Audi S4 quattro has brought with it a steep learning curve and a very different driving style.
Kyalami will be the final action-packed round of the season and the Audi S4 quattros in class A of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship will be right in the thick of the action.
With Stephen's 52 point advantage over his nearest rivals ahead of the season finale at Kyalami, the gap cannot be closed with the total number of available points remaining in the championship. This means Stephen will have officially claimed a consecutive championship victory when the season ends in Gauteng next week.
The Audi S4 quattro racers of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports Medicine), Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) and Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) will each be racing hard for their final positions of the season.
In the case of Priest, the 2012 season has delivered a mixed bag of results. Priest remained confident that the pace he has been building would show the results he has been aiming for – and this happened at the previous event, held at Killarney.
Here Priest won, finished second and claimed third, putting his Audi S4 quattro on the podium in each of the three races held at that event. This translated into second place overall on the day – exactly the kind of results he has been working toward.
For Stephen's teammate, Sipuka, a fairly consistent season has seen him amongst the points at each of the events. Depending on the outcome at Kyalami, this could see him finish amongst the top five for the year.
A third place finish in one of the races at Killarney indicates that Sipuka has the pace to make that happen, so a fight to the finish from him might just see a change in the points standings in this late stage of the season.
Bonafede will use the final race meeting of 2012 to continue in his quest for a strong season in 2013. With just a few race meetings under his belt in the Audi S4 quattro he has opted for the 2012 events to be an extended testing and training programme.
This will all be groundwork for his racing efforts next year and a full championship onslaught. Having moved from a front-wheel drive Volkswagen Golf GTI into an Audi S4 quattro has brought with it a steep learning curve and a very different driving style.
Kyalami will be the final action-packed round of the season and the Audi S4 quattros in class A of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship will be right in the thick of the action.
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
