Da Cunha in Kyalami action
An action-packed four-course meal was the highlight of the opening round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Kyalami on
Saturday.
Marco da Cunha, 29, finished a creditable fourth overall for the day in the premier class A in his new-look Tubular Nissan 350Z and
younger sibling Paulo, 26, was forced to call it a day after injuring his hand in a crash in race two.
Marco qualified eighth and finished eighth in the first of the new-format of four six-lap sprint races, which was won by reigning
champion Anthony Taylor (BMW 335i). The first two races were run back-to-back as were the second two, but with a 3 hr 20 min gap in between.
Paulo started ninth on the grid and finished ninth.
Marco was sixth in race two (won by Hennie Groenewald in a Subaru WRX STI) after starting from eighth place, while Paulo was the victim
of a little over-exuberance that started in Sunset Corner (turn 5) and ended with him running wide onto the Astroturf exiting Clubhouse
Corner (turn 6) and spearing into the Armco barrier on the inside of the track. The result was a badly-damaged front end of the Nissan and a
bruised right hand.
The third six-lapper saw Marco line up seventh on the grid and finish seventh behind race winner Taylor. The best result was reserved for
last with da Cunha crossing the finish line third in the final race behind the BMW of Melvill Priest and the Subaru of Richard Pinard.
The older da Cunha had started second behind Priest in the reverse grid format that operated for races two and four (the top eight
finishers from race three were switched around). He managed to hold off the faster car of Pinard for three laps and did well to only finish
2,7 sec behind the turbo-charged Subaru, at its best at Kyalami's high altitude.
"To be honest, we haven't done much more than rebuild the two Nissan 350Zs after last season and made a few minor tweaks," said
team manager Grant van Schalkwyk. "We're well down on power compared to the turbo-charged BMWs and Subarus, although our handling
package is as good as any of the other cars, if not better. We're really concentrating our efforts as a team on getting the first of our two
new Nissan 370Zs ready, when we should be a lot more competitive and our drivers will be able to freely exercise their talents. Until then
we'll be doing our best with the older cars."
The next round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship takes place at Killarney in Cape Town on 2 April.