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Procars thrill Phakisa fans
It is generally anticipated that when the Bridgestone Production Car contingent bursts into town there is going to be close, action-packed racing and a few slightly bent body panels.
While this was true of this weekend's event at Phakisa, the results were unexpected and the drama unpredicted.
Friday's practice sessions indicated that Melvill Priest (Afrox BMW 335i) and Michael van Rooyen (Nando's Ford Focus ST) were going to walk classes A and T respectively, but things weren't quite as clear-cut on race day.
Qualifying
After struggling for pace throughout Friday, Michael Stephen (Engen Audi A4) put in a magical lap during qualifying to steal pole position by just 0.008 of a second from Johan Fourie (Indy Oil Audi A4). Priest was demoted to third place, marginally ahead of teammate Reghard Roets (BMW 335i). GP2 driver, Adrian Zaugg (Midas Lotus Exige) set the fastest first sector time of anyone and claimed fifth on the grid with Tschops Sipuka (Engen Audi A4) sixth. Marco da Cunha (Tubular Nissan 350Z) was up next, with the top seven positions separated by eight tenths of a second.
Anthony Taylor (Afrox BMW 335i) was languishing in eighth place, after the introduction of his 34mm performance restrictor.
Subaru was struggling for pace all weekend and had decided to withdraw from the event. Series controllers felt that this would be detrimental to the category, manufacturer and sponsors and gave the team some allowances in terms of restrictor sizes to get them back into the field. In the best interest of the category and sport, the other Class A teams agreed to the allowances after a lengthy meeting. The three Subarus of Richard Pinard (Midas), Hennie Groenewald (Timken) and Dawie Olivier (Timken) had however already missed the qualifying session and had to start from the back of the class grid.
Things weren't quite as dramatic in Class T. Michael van Rooyen continued his good pace and took pole position, just 0.042 of a second ahead of Gennaro Bonafede (Ferodo VW GTI). Arch rivals, Graeme Nathan (Indy Oil VW GTI) and Gary Formato (Nando's Ford Focus ST) shared the second row, with their respective teammates, Kieren Quarmby (Interfile VW GTI) and Shaun Duminy (Nando's Ford Focus ST), a row further back. Heinz Bose (Mazda MFC) was the sole surviving Mazda after George Smalberger withdrew from the event with a broken engine just five laps into the weekend's first practice session. Andre van der Merwe (Acc Renault), Nieyaaz Modack (Woodmead VW GTI) and Nizaam Esa (Asrin VW GTI) were the final qualifiers after Curt Alchin (Bodyman VW GTI) retired with a misfire.
Race 1
The first race got under way with Fourie challenging Stephen for the lead into turn one. Fourie took the position and started to open up a big lead. Priest held station behind the Audis as a huge dice between da Cunha, Roets and Olivier developed behind him.
In the midfield, Sipuka and Zaugg touched going into turn three and the Lotus spun off the circuit. Sipuka suffered radiator damage which resulted in a broken engine, while Zaugg had a boost pipe come off the supercharger.
The jostling for position was put to an abrupt end when the safety car was deployed for a Class T accident. The safety car returned to the pits with just one racing lap left.
Fourie took the victory, ahead of Stephen and Priest. Da Cunha took fourth with Olivier, Pinard, Zaugg and Groenewald the final finishers after Taylor and Roets retired with broken turbochargers.
In Class T, Formato had a great start, passing both Nathan and Bonafede to take up second place behind teammate van Rooyen. A good race appeared to be developing when one of Duminy's brake discs shattered, causing the Ford's brakes to fail. Duminy slammed into the side of Bonafede before bumping into Quarmby. All three cars were sidelined and the safety car was deployed. When the dust had settled and the race resumed, van Rooyen lead Formato and Nathan. Bose was fourth, with Modack and Esa the final runners. On the last corner, Formato stole the lead from van Rooyen to take the win.
Race 2
The drama began before the second race could. The partially-inverted grid saw Pinard and Esa on pole in their respective classes, but both pole sitters were pushed off the grid and into pit lane with mechanical problems, leaving Olivier at the front of Class A and Modack in the lead of class T.
When the race finally started, Olivier romped away with the lead with da Cunha in hot pursuit. Priest was working hard for third place, while Fourie had muscled his way into fourth. By the time the chequered flag came out, the order was slightly altered. Olivier took the win, with Fourie second. Priest held onto third place, with Stephen fourth. Pinard took fifth place (after starting from pit lane), with Groenewald the sixth and final runner.
Da Cunha was unlucky to retire on the penultimate lap with a broken engine, while Zaugg retired with a broken engine mounting.
With Esa's retirement before the start, the Class T field was reduced to five. Formato took the win from Nathan, ahead of van Rooyen, Bose and Modack. After a review by officials of a bumping incident between van Rooyen and Bose, however, Bose was placed ahead of van Rooyen in the race results.
Race 3
Just in case there hadn't been enough action for one day, the cars lined up for the feature race. In an unexpected show of camaraderie, the Class A drivers remained stationary in pit lane well after the race was meant to start. What appeared to be some kind of protest turned out to be a delaying tactic. SAM Racing was in the process of changing da Cunha's engine and needed just a few more minutes to complete the job. Once his car was up and running, the full field of 11 Class A cars took to the track.
Fourie lead from start to finish, although Stephen tried to make a play for the lead into turn one. The unsuccessful manoeuvre saw Stephen drop to fifth place. Ahead of him, the action was plentiful. Roets, da Cunha and Priest were embroiled in a scintillating 10-lap dice for second. Roets was looking set to take the position when, on the last lap, he left the door open and Priest charged through for the position, taking da Cunha along with him. Roets was left in fourth place. Taylor finished fifth with Olivier sixth. Groenewald took the flag a lap down after having to make a pit stop.
Stephen retired with suspected engine damage, Sipuka with a puncture and Zaugg with an overheating engine.
The Class T race was a bit more demure as the "big guns" showed that they can race together without getting physical. Nathan took the race win, after a good, clean contest with Formato and van Rooyen. Formato took second, with Bose having a good outing to take third. After much hard work from their respective teams, Duminy finished fourth with Quarmby and Bonafede fifth and sixth respectively. Esa was the final finisher after van Rooyen slowed with tyre problems resulting from his charge in the opening laps.
Nieyaaz Modack, in his first outing to Phakisa, was named as the Car Magazine Rookie of the day, while Gerhard Smooke was announced as Sasol's top tech of the event. Gerhard's all-night stint to replace the damaged Lotus gearbox saw him leave the circuit at 4 am on Saturday.
The next exciting instalment of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship will take place at Zwartkops on 11 September.
