Following an incident-filled round at Cape Town’s Killarney circuit a month ago, defending champion Leeroy Poulter (Sasol Nissan 350Z) shares the lead in class A with Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi A4 quattro) on 107 points after six rounds. Third on 94 points is Johan Fourie (Audi A4 quattro) with Poulter’s Sasol Nissan team-mate Gary Formato fourth on 74 points. Tschops Sipuka is 10th on 30 points.
The results of the second race in Cape Town, which saw Michael Stephen (Audi A4 quattro) credited with the win ahead of Formato, Watson-Smith and Poulter, are subject to an appeal by Nissan Motorsport, who allege that Watson-Smith passed Poulter under yellow flag conditions. Should the appeal be successful, Poulter will lead the championship from Watson-Smith 111-103.
“I was leading Shaun when the yellow flags were waved and made no attempt to defend my position, because you are not allowed to overtake under these conditions,” said Poulter.
The Zwartkops circuit has recently been resurfaced and only this week the surface was treated to give it more grip. According to Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport, who tested at the circuit last week, the new surface is very fast on the racing line, but difficult off the line. “Overtaking is going to be very difficult,” he said.
“We had a useful test, but we know we’ll have our hands full on Saturday, just as we did in Cape Town. The competition is fierce. Leeroy is again on maximum weight and will have to dig deep to successfully defend his championship lead.”
The privately-run Nissan Dealer Team of Reghard Roets (Bosal 350Z) and Marco da Cunha (DCM/Tubular Construction 350Z) will be aiming to improve their current championship positions of 8th (Roets) and 13th (Da Cunha).
“We had a disappointing day in the Cape last time out,” said Lee Phillips, team principal of SAM Racing, who run the Nissan Dealer Team. “We’ve made gains in the handling department in recent rounds and, with a bit more luck than we had at Killarney, we’re looking forward to both drivers being in the points on Saturday.”