Round Seven of the Bridgestone Production Car championship could not have got off to a more dramatic start, with a high-speed accident bringing out the red flag at Zwartkops Raceway on August 31. In the inevitable rough and tumble of the first few corners, the Ford Focus ST of Shaun Duminy and the Mini Cooper S of Gavin Cronje touched, sending the former off the circuit and into the tyre barrier at close to 160 km/h, after which the car turned sideways and went into a spectacular series of rolls.
Just two corners further on, as the field slowed suddenly for the red flag now displayed at the table top and with some competitors unsighted, there was more contact, this time between Cronje and Michael van Rooyen’s Chevrolet Cruze. The latter speared left and into the barriers, the former limped back to the pits with the left side completely deranged.
Fortunately, the damage was restricted to inanimate objects, and no humans were harmed in the making of the drama.
After a long delay the race was restarted and it was Johan Fourie in the BMW 335i who simply left the field behind from pole position. The Subaru WRX STI of Hennie Groenewald held station in second, with Etienne van der Linde completing the podium in the second ‘works’ BMW 335i. Michael Stephen was once again able to get the most out of a car which seems to be dropping steadily off the pace, to finish fourth.
Class T belonged to Lee Thompson, his MINI ahead of Graeme Nathan’s Golf6 GTI, who managed to save the car after a high-speed sideways moment right on the apex of the fastest corner on the track, only superb car control saving the day. It cost him the lead, but in retrospect he was happy enough about being runner-up in light of the fact that Cronje – his handling deranged and the radiator damaged from the earlier altercation – was fifth. Third went to Jacques Joubert in a Golf6 GTI.
In race two, Melvill Priest in the distinctive blue Audi S4 finally came good and after many meetings as a bridesmaid, the win coming after a hard duel with his Audi team mate (Gennaro Bonafede) and the similar S4 of Tjchops Sipuka. Van der Linde was just ahead of Stephen once again, in turn holding off Fourie – slower than usual after damage caused by contact with Hennie Groenwald on the opening lap.
Class T was won by a slightly bemused Gary Formato, whose race pace was better than his qualifying result suggested. Reliability issues once again stymied the efforts of Devin Robertson, the Renault Megane slowing while leading – caused by the same problem which forced him out in the first sprint.
Other notable retirements was Lee Thompson’s MINI with a throttle problem, while the similar car of Cronje more or less expired as the race ended, while running in third place. Finishing behind Nathan in both sprints definitely not part of MINI’s masterplan. On the BMW front, Roman de Beer’s impressive debut came to an end on the first lap with a damaged engine.
With the two sprint races done the competitors retired to their garages to prepare for the ‘endurance’ race, reduced from 17 to 15 laps due to the lateness of the programme after the delays in clearing the wreckage from the first sprint. You can read all about the feature race here.
