Press Release from Audi South Africa
THREE action-packed races at round seven of the WesBank Super
Series at Zwartkops saw four Audi S4 quattros in the battle for points. The
event proved a valuable day in the office for Bridgestone Production Car Class
A championship leader Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun).
With just two more rounds to go in the championship, Stephen made good use of the opportunity to defend his title by finishing first overall for the day.
“It was a good weekend,” says Stephen. “We did what we could with an overall win for the day and extended the championship lead. The next round, at Killarney, could play into our hands and be an advantage at this late stage in the season. I'm happy with the weekend.”
Race one saw Stephen cross the finish line in second place and, with the inverted grid of the first four finishers for race two, he started in third – and raced to keep this spot on the podium, opting for points rather than risks. Race three again saw Stephen on the second step of the podium, just over a half-second behind the race winner.
For Stephen's teammate, Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) the Zwartkops event saw him claim third place overall. Sipuka's results improved steadily throughout the day, with a sixth in race one, a fourth in race two and third place in the final race of the day.
“The early stages of race one was a bit of a battle, but once things settled down, I started picking through the competitors,” says Sipuka. “There was a bit of a fight between Melvill and I in the third race, but overall it was a smooth race. I think we will be strong again at Killarney, we've made a few tweaks this weekend and it kept us strong in the final race.”
For Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) a fourth place overall for the weekend was not the result he wanted, but still a finishing position many competitors would love to have claimed for themselves.
“We've been testing quite a bit and that has been successful,” says Priest. “We were second fastest in the first session on Friday, but we didn't build from there, so we battled this weekend. Two fifths and a fourth place are not ideal results.”
Priest will get a chance to push for the results he ideally wants when the team head to the penultimate round of the championship in the Western Cape in September.
Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) is the newcomer to the Audi S4 quattro camp and Zwartkops was his first opportunity to find out what awaited in the class. He has decided that the remaining part of 2012 will be used for practise and setup purposes in the build-up to the 2013 season.
Bonafede completed the first race in seventh place – and then a variety of issues kept him away from the chequered flag for the rest of the day.
“It was a tough day today,” says Bonafede. “We showed promise, and there was good place, we started last and got up to sixth at one stage, but a broken suspension caused us problems.”
While Bonafede and his team had already decided they would be rebuilding the car, the outcome of the Zwartkops event looks like they will tackle this project earlier than anticipated.
The are just two more opportunities this year to see the Audi S4 quattros in action and the first of these will take place at Killarney on Saturday, 22 September. This circuit often favours the quattro system of these Audi race cars, so race fans can look forward to a day of exciting racing.
With just two more rounds to go in the championship, Stephen made good use of the opportunity to defend his title by finishing first overall for the day.
“It was a good weekend,” says Stephen. “We did what we could with an overall win for the day and extended the championship lead. The next round, at Killarney, could play into our hands and be an advantage at this late stage in the season. I'm happy with the weekend.”
Race one saw Stephen cross the finish line in second place and, with the inverted grid of the first four finishers for race two, he started in third – and raced to keep this spot on the podium, opting for points rather than risks. Race three again saw Stephen on the second step of the podium, just over a half-second behind the race winner.
For Stephen's teammate, Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) the Zwartkops event saw him claim third place overall. Sipuka's results improved steadily throughout the day, with a sixth in race one, a fourth in race two and third place in the final race of the day.
“The early stages of race one was a bit of a battle, but once things settled down, I started picking through the competitors,” says Sipuka. “There was a bit of a fight between Melvill and I in the third race, but overall it was a smooth race. I think we will be strong again at Killarney, we've made a few tweaks this weekend and it kept us strong in the final race.”
For Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) a fourth place overall for the weekend was not the result he wanted, but still a finishing position many competitors would love to have claimed for themselves.
“We've been testing quite a bit and that has been successful,” says Priest. “We were second fastest in the first session on Friday, but we didn't build from there, so we battled this weekend. Two fifths and a fourth place are not ideal results.”
Priest will get a chance to push for the results he ideally wants when the team head to the penultimate round of the championship in the Western Cape in September.
Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Ferodo Racing) is the newcomer to the Audi S4 quattro camp and Zwartkops was his first opportunity to find out what awaited in the class. He has decided that the remaining part of 2012 will be used for practise and setup purposes in the build-up to the 2013 season.
Bonafede completed the first race in seventh place – and then a variety of issues kept him away from the chequered flag for the rest of the day.
“It was a tough day today,” says Bonafede. “We showed promise, and there was good place, we started last and got up to sixth at one stage, but a broken suspension caused us problems.”
While Bonafede and his team had already decided they would be rebuilding the car, the outcome of the Zwartkops event looks like they will tackle this project earlier than anticipated.
The are just two more opportunities this year to see the Audi S4 quattros in action and the first of these will take place at Killarney on Saturday, 22 September. This circuit often favours the quattro system of these Audi race cars, so race fans can look forward to a day of exciting racing.
Audi South Africa
Photos by www.motorpics.co.za and Steve Wicks
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
