Audi S4 quattro quartet a force in the Cape‏

Press Release from Audi South Africa

THERE are now four Audi S4 quattros competing in the Bridgestone Production Car championship – and Killarney was the venue for this quartet to compete for the first time. The event was round two of the WesBank Super Series which took place in Cape Town on Saturday.

The four cars are made up of defending Bridgestone Production Car class A champion Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun), Stephen's Engen Xtreme teammate Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Southern Sun), the Mueller Sport Medicine Audi S4 quattro of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine) and the EPS / IndyOil entry of Johan Fourie (A9 – EPS / IndyOil).

Fourie missed the first round of the championship held at Zwartkops Raceway but appeared determined to make up for it with his Cape Town performance. Fourie kicked off the event with the fastest qualifying performance in the championship, closely followed by Stephen.

Priest and Sipuka qualified seventh and eighth with Priest's team having to do quite a bit of work on his Audi S4 quattro after it was damaged during the practise sessions. A great deal of work later Priest described the car's handling as acceptable but not optimal. It didn't seem to slow him down much though.

In the first race Fourie kept up the performance of his qualifying session to claim the race victory with Stephen right behind him. Here Priest raced home to fifth place with Sipuka one place back. Race two again showed Fourie to be unstoppable in his charge for points and he claimed the chequered flag for a second time. Stephen crossed the finish line for fourth with Sipuka in seventh and Priest unable to complete the race – he missed a gear (second gear) on the start which allowed Stephen to pass. Brief contact between the pair resulted in a broken steering arm which meant Priest had to pull off and could not complete the race.

Race three saw Priest back on form, crossing the line for third with Stephen in fourth. Sipuka finished in ninth place but Fourie had to settle for 13^th when the bonnet clips on his Audi S4 quattro snapped after contact with Stephen earlier in the race. The result was that his bonnet flew open, obscuring his view and smashing his windscreen and roof in the process.

Overall for the day Stephen claimed third place with Sipuka in fifth, Fourie sixth and Priest in eighth. The Audi S4 quattros will contest round three of the WesBank Super Series at Aldo Scribante Raceway in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 28 April.

Audi South Africa

Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za

More information:

Audi South Africa

Audi Motorsport in South Africa FB page

Unofficial Audi Sport FB page

Bridgestone Production Cars Website

Bridgestone Production Cars FB page

Johan Fourie - Audi S4 (Johan Fourie Racing)

Michael Stephen - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Tschops Sipuka - Audi S4 (Terry Moss Racing)

Melvil Priest - Audi S4 (VMP Motorsport)

Nieyaaz Modack - Audi A4 (Private ex-Johan Fourie Racing A4)