Press Release from Audi South Africa
THREE races meant three chances to earn points at round three of the national WesBank Super Series round for the 2012 season. For three of the Audi S4 quattro competitors this event took place at their home circuit – or at least the home circuit for their car.
Defending champion Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun) looked to be in dominant form, making the very best of his home track advantage. Stephen charged into the lead, posting the fastest qualifying time and claiming pole for the first race by 0.3 of a second over his nearest rival, Johan Fourie (A9 – EPS / IndyOil) and his Audi S4 quattro which is garaged and prepared in Port Elizabeth.
“It was a good day at the track,” says Stephen. “The Audi S4 quattro was strong and everything was working well from Friday already. This weekend was a great result.
“The last few race meetings at Zwartkops we have been on the pace – or been the pace – for the series, and we race there next. The previous outing there I had an issue in race three that ended what could have been a weekend just like the one we just had, but I'm confident things will play into our hands again.”
Fourth fastest in qualifying was another Audi S4 quattro, this time that of another Port Elizabeth racer, Tschops Sipuka (A2 – Engen Xtreme / Tsogo Sun). Three places behind Sipuka was the Audi S4 quattro of Melvill Priest (A7 – Mueller Sport Medicine).
“We haven't done enough practise, we spent the time between CT and PE fixing the car so we didn't go in expecting too much since we haven't tested. There has been little time because we just got the car back together again but we've already got a test booked for this week. We're looking forward to Zwartkops and I'm good at the track.
“There's a lot to take into account, both from a driver and engineering perspective, and that's what we're working on now, that's our biggest task.”
PE is the first time we've had a chance to get some proper testing time this year and we've made good use of that, things should go much better from this point.”
Technical infringements in terms of how much turbocharger/supercharger boost is allowed in the series saw three of the Audi S4 quattro competitors sent to the back of the starting grid for the first race – leaving only Stephen to retain his qualifying position.
In the first race Stephen made great use of the power of his Audi S4 quattro to keep his pole position advantage and claim victory. It was his teammate, Tschops Sipuka, however that posted the fastest laptime as he concentrated on working his way through the field. Sipuka finished in seventh, just behind the Audi S4 quattro of Fourie.
For Priest the first race saw him cross the line in ninth place – a result he wasn't prepared to repeat with two more races on the day. Priest proved exactly that, posting a sixth place finish in the second race and claiming fifth in the last race of the day.
Fourie's fortunes also improved with two fourth place finishes to off-set his sixth place in race one.
“I wish we could have swopped Friday and Saturday this weekend,” says Fourie. “We were battling with a small splutter in qualifying and that penalty made the first two races very difficult. The handling also wasn't great on the day so there's lots of work to do for the next round.”
The biggest winner on the day was the defending champion, Stephen. Fastest in qualifying, a race victory in the first and third race and a second place in race two, he is now just a single point behind the current leader, the Subaru of Hennie Groenewald.
This means Stephen is the leading Audi S4 quattro racer and he will enter the Zwartkops round with a good chance of claiming the lead at that event. Priest, Fourie and Sipuka currently hold fifth, sixth and seventh in the series, with the Zwartkops event likely to favour their quattro systems and giving them the opportunity of closing the gap to the leaders.
Audi South Africa
Photos hosted at www.motorpics.co.za
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