Johan Fourie Racing Press Release
TOUGH WEEKEND FOR FOURIE IN PE
After taking home two Bridgestone Production Car wins in Cape Town, Johan Fourie was looking forward to much of the same at the second round of the WesBank Super Series held at Aldo Scribante this past weekend. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be.
Friday's practice sessions looked promising and Johan managed to set a great time in qualifying. A time that would have put him on the front row of the grid. The team were however confronted with a huge problem that put the boost pressure of their Audi S4 above the allowed limit. A problem that did not present itself on Friday. Johan, together with two other competitors were moved to the back of the grid for this technical infringement.
After making some mapping changes, the team were ready for the first race, albeit concerned about their pace and the reason for the sudden boost anomaly. The rolling start did not give Johan any advantage over the rear wheel drive BMWs, but he managed to move into seventh place by the end of the first lap. Two laps later, he was into sixth. He drove hard to keep up with the BMWs, but was unable to improve his position.
Johan did not benefit from a reversed grid after only the top four finishers were inverted for the race two rolling start. He had a good start and was up to fifth place by the end of the first lap. The racing was close and three laps from the end, Johan saw an opportunity to pass Anthony Taylor, he executed the move and made it stick taking the flag fourth.
The final race grid was determined by the fastest race two lap times. This put Johan fourth on the grid for the standing start. The Audi got off the line well and Johan moved up to third. Going into turn one however, he found himself being squeezed by Etienne van der Linde (BMW). The two touched and van der Linde spun in front of Johan. This allowed stablemate Tschops Sipuka to get through and into third. Johan held onto fourth place for the remaining 14 laps.
"It was a difficult weekend filled with unexpected problems which we will need to rectify before the next race. The boost will be lower at altitude, but we are very concerned that we may have a problem with our ECU. I was going for the race win, but at the end of the day, we still took some points home and got to race. It could have been worse," commented Johan.
"Once again, the support from our fans has been amazing. Thank you for your support," he concluded.
The team will be back in action at Zwartkops on 26 May.
More Information:
Johan Fourie Racing website
Johan Fourie Racing FB page
MotorPics
Photos hosted at Motorpics
