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A promising performance by the Sasol Nissan 350Zs of Leeroy Poulter and Tschops Sipuka in official practice on Friday did not produce the expected results in round four of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Zwartkops Raceway west of Pretoria on Saturday.
Although Sipuka did well to qualify his car in third place ahead of his team-mate (earning a valuable championship point) for the opening race, the pair was unable to make any impression on the BMWs of Anthony Taylor and Etienne van der Linde, who started and finished first and second respectively. Sipuka was third and Poulter fourth.
Incidents in race two spoiled any chance either Nissan driver had of achieving a good result, with Sipuka missing out on a second podium finish after clashing with Van der Linde and Poulter lucky to finish at all after getting caught up in someone else’s accident. Sipuka was fifth and Poulter seventh.
The privateer Nissan Dealer Team fielded two Tubular-backed 350Zs for Darryn Lobb and guest driver and former Sasol Nissan works racer Duncan Vos. Lobb’s fourth place in race two was the team’s best result of the day.
Race 1 – 15 laps (36 km)
Sipuka: qualified 3rd, finished 3rd
Lobb: qualified 6th, finished 11th
Vos: qualified 11th, finished 10th
Sipuka did well to qualify third on the grid for the rolling start race, ahead of team-mate and former champion Poulter, but there was little the pair could do about the two BMW 330i’s of former champion Taylor and Van der Linde, who started first and second on the grid respectively. While Taylor led from start to finish, Van der Linde held up the rest of the field for a few laps, allowing Taylor to get away and romp to an easy 4,9-sec win.
The two Sasol Nissan 350Z drivers duly went on to finish third and fourth, but not before Poulter had a scare. He and Lobb (Nissan Dealer Team 350Z), who had started alongside Poulter on the third row of the grid, touched wheels on lap two, launching both cars into the air. While Poulter was able to carry on without losing a place, Lobb suffered a flat wheel and had to pit to change it. He eventually finished 11th, a lap down.
Current national off road production vehicle champion Duncan Vos, making a one-off return to the track for the first time since 2005 when he last drove a works Sasol Nissan 350Z, started 11th in the second Nissan Dealer Team 350Z and finished 10th after an eventful race which saw him involved in a race-long duel with reigning production car champion Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi). The two old rivals, both former touring car aces, squabbled over ninth place until Vos spun out after contact on the penultimate lap and dropped back.
Provisional result:
1 Anthony Taylor (BMW) 17m 18,98s; 2 Etienne van der Linde (BMW) +4,93s; 3 Tschops Sipuka (Nissan) +8,78s; 4 Leeroy Poulter (Nissan) +9,16s; 5 Melvill Priest (Audi) +9,55s; 6 Johan Fourie (Audi) +13,88; 7 Michael Stephen (Audi) +23,06s; 8 Dawie Olivier (Subaru) +29,40; 9 Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi) +34,59s; 10 Duncan Vos (Nissan) 14 laps; 11 Darryn Lobb (Nissan) 14 laps. Fastest lap: Taylor, 1m 08,20s.
Race 2 – 15 laps (36 km)
(reverse grid)
Poulter: started 5th, finished 7th
Sipuka: started 6th, finished 5th
Lobb: started 11th, finished 4th
Vos: started 10th, finished 9th
Race two featured the usual rolling start and a reverse grid (with the first eight finishers from race one starting in inverted order) and saw Sipuka up to fourth at the end of the first lap from his sixth place on the grid. He passed pole-sitter Olivier (Subaru) for third on lap seven and looked headed for a second successive podium finish.
However, race one winner Taylor (BMW) caught and passed him on lap 13 (getting two wheels off the circuit in the process) and then, on the final lap, Taylor’s team-mate Van der Linde made a clumsy attempt to pass, putting both cars off the circuit. Sipuka managed to get going again ahead of Van der Linde, but not before Lobb slipped past in the privateer Nissan 350Z. A disappointed Sipuka had to settle for fifth place.
Poulter, in the second Sasol Nissan 350Z, got caught up in an accident involving Taylor (BMW) and Fourie (Audi) on the opening lap, the Nissan colliding hard with the Audi and sustaining front suspension damage. Poulter dropped back to ninth and struggled through to the finish with a damaged front tyre, eventually crossing the line in seventh place.
Lobb had a great race in the privateer Nissan dealer Team 350Z, finishing fourth after starting in 11th position. Team-mate Vos started 10th and finished ninth.
Poulter: “We struggled with the car after practice and things just did not go our way this weekend.”
uka: “I drove as hard as I could in both races and although I’m not happy about the overtaking tactics of the two BMW drivers, I’m quite pleased with my overall performance today.”
Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport paid tribute to Sipuka’s efforts. “Although our overall results for the day were well below our expectations following our good performance in Friday’s practice sessions, Tschops did a great job. He qualified well and could have come away with two podium finishes. The overtaking manoeuvres by both Taylor and Van der Linde in race two left much to be desired.
“We had problems with the brakes on Leeroy’s car in qualifying and in race one. He was very lucky to finish race two after hitting Fourie and damaging the front suspension and a tyre. We’ve got quite a bit of work to do before the next race meeting, which is just two weeks’ away.”