BMW Motorsport had a difficult day at the office on Saturday 7 July, rounds 11 and 12 of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship. The team of three identically prepared BMW Castrol 330i’s, struggled with traction problems throughout the weekend as the four-wheel drive contenders set the pace.
Johan Fourie in the (Audi A4) took victory in the day’s first heat, followed by Steve Morris (Subaru Impreza) and Michael Stephen (Audi A4). Clint Weston was the first BMW home in 10th place, Etienne van der Linde recovered from a collision to finish 13th while Anthony Taylor retired after a collision with Melville Priest (Audi A4).
Gary Formato (Nissan 350Z) got the better of the four-wheel drive contenders, thanks to an inverted grid and a rolling start, to take the second heat win ahead of Leeroy Poulter (Nissan 350Z) and Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi A4). Etienne van der Linde finished sixth, ahead of Anthony Taylor, again relegated from a promising second position late in the race due to a collision with a class C car,while Clint Weston finished tenth.
ETIENNE VAN DER LINDE (eighth overall)
“It was a difficult weekend for us,” explained van der Linde. “We traditionally perform well at Kyalami and were expecting to have a strong outing this weekend. For some reason we struggled with traction and were unable to get the results we wanted. I started heat 1 from seventh place and was looking to make up ground but unfortunately the Nissan of Gary Formato collided with me and I was relegated to the back of the field. In heat two we ran an inverted grid with a rolling start. I had a good run and made up a lot of ground, moving from 13th to sixth place at the flag.
CLINT WESTON (ninth overall)
“Traction proved to be our major obstacle this weekend,” said Weston. “We struggled to get the power down early and were losing time on the front runners, as a result I had to settle for tenth place in both heats. From a personal point of view I was happy to again set lap times close to my team mates and hope that at the next event we will be able to challenge at the front.
ANTHONY TAYLOR (twelfth overall)
“We certainly had our work cut out for us this weekend,” commented Taylor. “The four-wheel drive contenders had a definite advantage and set the pace this weekend.
In heat 1 I had an ABS failure and ran up the back of Melvill Priest (Audi A4), my bonnet flipped up with the impact and I limped back to the pits and into retirement. Heat 2 looked to be far more promising. With the inverted grid in place I lined up in fourth and had a good start. I was challenging Leeroy Poulter (Nissan 350z) for second place only to be caught up in the aftermath of a class C incident. I was forced to take avoiding action and spun out of contention. I was able to recover but had to settle for seventh place.”
DANIE HUMAN, MOTORSPORT MANAGER BMW SOUTH AFRICA
“We were very surprised with the results of the weekend. We tested at Kyalami in the lead up to the event and we were very happy with our times. But when we arrived this weekend we were just unable to replicate those times.
All three drivers were struggling to get the power down and traction seemed to be our downfall as the four-wheel drive contenders came to the fore.
“On the positive side the cars proved to be very reliable this weekend giving us a solid foundation to build on. Its difficult for us to explain why we were unable to match the times that we set in our previous test session, however we’ll be doing a lot of work in the coming weeks to ensure we bounce back at Killarney (4 August).
