Nathan’s head start
MIDRAND - Multiple Bridgestone Production Car Champion Graeme Nathan got his 2014 season off to a solid start at a cool and wet Zwartkops Raceway on 1 March.
Once again, Nathan pulled out the stops in qualifying to put the Volkswagen Genuine Parts Golf GTI on pole position, just over a quarter of a second faster than Gary Formato in the Ford Focus.
Race one was a simple 10-lap sprint and Nathan judged the start to perfection to lead into the first turn. He judged the rest of the race perfectly too and led out of the final turn to win from the Chev Cruze of Michael van Rooyen with almost two seconds to spare.
Rain began to fall just before the start of the 17-lap second race but a first corner accident involving protégé Charl Smalberger in the Golf 5 GTI meant the race had to be restarted. The inverted grid meant Nathan had to pass six cars to get into the lead but before he could do that a typical first lap skirmish knocked the Golf’s wheel alignment out and left him at the back of the field. In a gritty display of controlled driving, he crossed the line in fourth place which, much to his surprise, was enough to claim the overall win for the day.
“After I got hit the handling was so bad, and with the wet track offering very little grip I relaxed my pace and didn’t take any chances. Still, it turned out to be a better result than I expected,” said Nathan.
Round two of the exciting Bridgestone Production Car Championship takes place at Cape Town’s quick Killarney circuit on 29 March.
