BMW dominance in the Free State
BMW dominated the Bridgestone Production Car victory list at Phakisa on Saturday.
The Afrox Pirtek BMW 335i entries of Etienne van der Linde and Johan Fourie finished first and second in the day’s feature race, leading home Gennaro Bonafede (Ferodo Audi S4), and Engen Xtreme Audi S4 drivers Michael Stephen and Tschops Sipuka. Earlier in the day van der Linde and Hennie Groenewald (Sasol Subaru WRX) took turns to win the sprint races.
Groenewald was challenging the two BMWs in the feature event when an oil pipe detached itself under his car’s bonnet, setting off a fire which sidelined his efforts.
Most of the day’s action happened in Class T which turned into a disaster for the title leading Castrol MINI Cooper S team of Gavin Cronje and Lee Thompson. Thompson’s car blew an engine early in the day, while Cronje was involved in an altercation with another car which saw the MINI’s handling deteriorate massively during the feature event.
Then the IndyOil Volkswagen Golf GTI if Jacques Joubert caught fire on the back straight. Joubert stopped the car and, borrowing fire extinguishers from various marshals, put the blaze out.
When racing resumed Gary Formato went into the Class T lead with his Castrol Ford Focus ST chased by the IndyOil VW Golf GTI of Graeme Nathan. They crossed the finish line in that order ahead of Shaun Duminy (Castrol Ford Focus ST), Niyaaz Modak (Ford Focus ST) and Devin Robertson (Liqui Moly Renault).
The day’s two sprint races were won by IndyOil VW drivers Nathan and Joubert.
