Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway produced some scintillating race action on Saturday, where Gary Formato’s Nissan 350Z recorded its first victory in the national production car championship.Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway produced some scintillating race action on Saturday, where Gary Formato’s Nissan 350Z recorded its first victory in the national production car championship.content here
Welkom’s Phakisa Freeway produced some scintillating race action on Saturday, where Gary Formato’s Nissan 350Z recorded its first victory in the national production car championship.
Formato displayed his winning intentions in Friday’s qualifying sessions when he put the Nissan on pole position for both races.
Jostling for position in the first race, a nudge by Hennie Groenewald’s BMW sent Formato spinning down the order. He finished in fifth place, behind Groenewald and Anthony Taylor (BMW 330i), Reghard Roets (Alfa Romeo 147 GTA), and his Nissan team-mate, Duncan Vos.
The Class A order was changed in the second race when Formato led from start to finish while those behind him battled for position. Taylor moved into second place by lap four of the nine-pal encounter, while Vos recorded another podium finish for Nissan. Alfa’s Morné Jurgens, Roets and Groenewald (who finished a disappointing sixth) followed Vos across the line.
Formato said: “It’s great to win again! The team has worked very hard to improve the car’s performance and the changes we made since Cape Town made a difference.
“We’re delighted with our first win and two cars in the top three, after just 240 km of competitive racing so far this season,” team manager Glyn Hall said. “We’ve made progress with our braking problems by going to a manual system of adjustment, while we match the ABS to the requirements of the semi-slick Bridgestone tyres.
The supercharged Mini Cooper S’ had the upper hand in the Class B races as Martin Steyn won ahead of Shaun van der Linde and Craig Nicholson in the opening race. Steyn retired from the second race with engine problems, leaving Van der Linde to snatch victory ahead of Nicholson and Mike O’Sullivan in his Fiat Stilo Abarth.
Dave Compton’s Toyota RunX RSi was the first naturally aspirated car in Class B to cross the finish line.
Theunis Eloff recorded a new lap record for Class C during the opening race in his Fiat Palio. Eloff went on to win the race, beating Clint Weston (Ford Ikon) Eckhardt Schoenknecht (Volkswagen Polo TDI) and Guy Botterill (Fiat Palio) to he chequered flag.
Eloff’s car developed a misfire in the second race, which allowed Schoenknecht to take victory and Weston again finished second in his Ford. Eloff finished third ahead of John Kruger’s Ford Fiesta.
