Groenewald aims to hit hard
Hennie Groenewald (Sasol Subaru)
heads into the opening round of the 2011 Bridgestone Production Car Championship with one aim in mind - hit the opposition hard from the
very first heat and grab an early championship advantage.
The team emerges from the off-season with a new look and a new name - Team Sasol Subaru - following a substantial sponsorship
investment by Sasol. Hennie Groenewald and Richard Pinard will do battle in a pair of Subaru WRX STIs at a circuit suited to the
turbo-charged machines.
Groenewald claimed two pole positions and two race wins at the Highveld circuit last season with the second most number of wins in
2010 and remains confident of the team's chances in the premier tin-top series that introduces a number of new innovations for 2011.
There will be four races per meeting and an on-grid 'lucky draw' after races 1 and 3 to determine how many cars are affected by the
reverse grid for races 2 and 4. A sliding scale of success ballast will apply to qualifying performance and race results after each pair
of heats while the fastest qualifier may nominate their preferred method of starting the race, either a standing or rolling start. Both
Groenewald and Pinard praised the Production Car organisers for their fresh approach to keeping the series ultra-competitive and the
fans entertained.
"The Subaru WRX STI is suited to Kyalami," said Groenewald. "We did quite well last year. The whole package just works well at Kyalami. The team has worked incredibly hard over the past few months to improve the
brakes and general consistency of the car. Make no mistake, we're
going all-out for the championship and I'm pleased with the progress made on the car. I like the new four-race format as some of the
longer feature races last year became something of a procession but I'm not overly excited with the ballast coming and going all
weekend. It will unbalance the car and give the team a lot of extra work. You can be sure that if we qualify on pole, we'll nominate a standing start for the race as the Impreza has an advantage off the line."
"I can't wait to get back in the car and experience the developments that SP Racing has made to the WRX STI," enthused
Pinard. "It's a privilege to be part of Team Sasol Subaru and we all have to raise our game to deliver the results that are
expected of us. There is a good bank of knowledge gained last year to draw from and I'm expecting a serious performance improvement, as
well as consistency and reliability. Tweaking the rules has been Production Cars' saviour. The draw for races
2 and 4 will be an exciting wild card and will prevent competitors cruising around in sixth place knowing they will have pole for the
following race. The new format has been designed to spice up the show, a bit like 20/20 cricket."
Team Principal and SP Race Engineering owner Carel Pienaar said: "For the first race there will be two
cars running with Hennie and Richard as our drivers. As from the second race at Killarney, a third car will be run with a driver that
will be announced soon. Some upgrades on the cars were conducted during the summer break. Unfortunately, many of the parts arrived very late due mainly
to some shipping problems as the result of the poor weather in the USA and Europe. We are looking forward to a competitive season in
Super Production Car racing."
"2011 marks the start of a new Sasol Subaru race team with an
exciting future," said Dean Somerset, Head of Sponsorships at Sasol. "We are looking forward to building on the success of the team and win the championship which is the ultimate
objective."