Audi South Africa
Press Release
A DEMANDING national race day at Killarney in Cape Town
saw the Audi S4 quattro competitors amongst the top finishers on the day – with
the defending champion the leading Audi S4 quattro racer.
With one round left in the season, Michael
Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme) emerged in second place overall for the day at
Killarney, with Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) hot on his heels in
third place.
“First priority this weekend was to finish
all three races. Winning race two and finishing in third and second in the
other two went a long way to achieving our championship goals,” says Stephen.
“It would have been nice to take the championship here at Killarney, that would
have taken the pressure off for the final round. We've won at the final round
before though and I'm confident we can do that again.”
Bonafede's second place came after a tough
day at the track. His pace for the weekend not quite reflecting accurately in
the results.
“We were consistent this weekend,” says
Bonafede. “Everything on the car is good after this event, so we'll do some
testing and then be ready for Kyalami. This race day promised to deliver a lot
more and it was a bit frustrating, but the consistency was good and we can
build on that for the final.”
Another consistent performance for the
weekend was that of Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme). Sipuka claimed fifth
place in every race – and also fifth overall for the day.
“The team has accomplished what it wanted to
achieve at Killarney this weekend,” says Sipuka. “As for the remaining round of
the season, we'll just take it in our stride.”
For Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sports
Medicine) it was the final race of the day that made the weekend worthwhile. An
engine which broke during qualifying saw him miss the first race completely and
only join the second race after it had already started. Priest made up for this
with a good qualifying time for race three – which is determined by the
laptimes of race two, and he took up pole position on the grid.
“The car was superb in that final race,” says
Priest. “I could drive it at the absolute limit and it would simply do whatever
I asked. At one stage we had a lead of 7.5 seconds on the rest of the field.”
The Audi S4 quattros will go into race action
for the final time this season at Kyalami on Saturday, 2 November, when they
contest the last round of the Bridgestone Production Cars Championship.
Photo credit: MotorPress.co.za
