Three wins for BMW at Kyalami
Anthony Taylor and Afrox BMW team mate Melvill Priest took three wins from the four-race meeting at Kyalami on Saturday.
The team dominated the qualifying session for the opening round of the 2011 Bridgestone production car championship. Taylor set his best
time of 1:49.851 minutes, and secured pole position just two thousands of a second ahead of team mate Priest.
Starting from pole position, Taylor laid the foundation for an excellent result with a strong first race win in sunny conditions with
temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius and followed that up with a second victory. While many competitors were involved in incidents,
Priest finished the final race of the day with a dominant win, taking the team to three race day wins.
"You can hardly wish for a more perfect qualifying and first race," said Taylor. "It definitely helped a lot that we had a
chance to test here a week before the start of the championship. I have to pay a compliment to our team, the BMWs were consistent from the
very first lap, and comfortable to drive throughout the race. The team didn't make a single mistake."
"Driving the BMW 335i was great fun today," said Priest. "The car had a fantastic balance, and also, thanks to a
successful qualifying, we were able to consolidate early in the race and open up a gap to take the double. It was crucial not to risk
anything in the traffic and to keep fully focused throughout the day's heats. We managed to do exactly that. I am very happy taking a final
heat win for the day as our team has consistently improved the car over the course of the off-season and really deserve this victory. It's
great to start the season with such a result."
"Obviously we are satisfied with the qualifying and race results with the BMW 335i in this specification," said team manager
Donovan van Heerden. "The car worked very well. Anthony Taylor and Melvill Priest drove superbly in the new but interesting race
formats. With the success of three race wins we can now continue the season with confidence."
The next round takes place at Killarney, Cape Town on 2 April.