Sasolracing Press Release
Sasolracing enters a new era as they mount a concerted effort to capture to Bridgestone Production Car Championship in 2014. Hennie Groenewald and Gennaro Bonafede will race a pair of Sasolracing-liveried Audi S4 Quattros in the eight-round series, which gets underway on 1st March at Zwartkops Raceway.
Carel Pienaar is the Team Principal and owner of the respected SP Race Engineering outfit responsible for fielding the all-new privateer Audi Sasolracing team while Vic Maharaj assumes the role of Team Manager and is responsible for the day-to-day engineering and preparation of the Audi racers. Whammy Haddad adds strength to the team’s expertise as an engineering consultant.
“The Audi is a beautifully engineered machine with great reliability and consistency over a race distance. There are no surprises nor anything to fear in the package, which has proven itself over the past few seasons”, said Carel Pienaar of his new racers. “We’re going flat out for the championship”.
Hennie Groenewald is no stranger to championship teams having claimed four V8 saloon racing titles while Gennaro Bonafede is the most exciting new talent in the premier tin-top series and a proven race winner.
For Hennie Groenewald, the Audi Sasolracing campaign offers a chance to fight for the ultimate prize – the Production Car Championship. “The Audi is a superb, well sorted and developed car that is ready to win races”, said Hennie after his initial test.
“The highlight for me so far is the front-end grip and immediate throttle response from the six-cylinder engine. The S4 is mechanically sound and has everything I need. Basically, it does what I ask of it”.
“I am proud to continue as a Sasol brand ambassador and the opportunity to forge strong links with Audi is an exciting prospect”.
Racing against his young, lightning fast team mate will also be a new experience. “Gennaro has natural speed and ability and we are going to be pushing each other to the limit out on the track. In the process, the whole team will move forward. It’s going to be quite a challenge and create exciting racing for the spectators”.
23 year-old BComm student Gennaro Bonafede has a wealth of racing experience, both locally and overseas, having started racing at the age of 6. He has raced saloon cars for the past six years, winning the VW Polo Cup Rookie Championship along the way.
“I’m excited to be racing with such a well-respected brand – it’s a real honour. I smile to myself when I drive past a Sasol garage”, he laughed. “I’ve never raced in a team where I have a team-mate but we will be rivals out on the track. The Sasolracing partnership brings a new dynamic. I like to think I will be able to help Hennie unlock some of the Audi’s secrets and I’m sure he will help me in other ways”.
“Class A in the Bridgestone Production Car Championship features the best seven racers in the country. I’m not intimidated by any of them – I may be younger than all of them but they know I’m there to race”, Gennaro added as a word of warning to his heavy metal rivals.
