Wesleigh Orr showed an improved turn of pace, particularly in race two, in the Global Consulting Solutions-backed VW and took a comfortable second overall for the day behind Cristiano Morgado and ahead of points leader Gavin Cronje.
Team-mate Paulo da Cunha (Tubular VW) finished seventh in both races after running sixth on both occasions before small driving errors dropped him back a place.
“Wesleigh drove well and his results were encouraging considering he is a lot less familiar with the Phakisa circuit layout than his main rivals,” said SAM Racing team principal Lee Philips. “We were a little surprised at the pace of Morgado and Cronje in race one and made a few changes to our cars between races. It was a lot closer in the second race and Wesleigh showed a lot more pace. We look forward to the next round in Port Elizabeth (on October 4), where we believe we have a very good chance of our first race win. We performed well there in round three in April and it’s a circuit Wesleigh likes.”
Orr, who is the official rookie driver for A1 Team South Africa, will be having the valuable opportunity of seat time in the new Ferrari-powered A1GP car before Port Elizabeth, when he participates in the pre-season testing for the fourth A1GP World Cup of Motorsport that starts at Mugello in Italy on September 21.
Marco da Cunha qualified his Tubular-backed Nissan Dealer Team 350Z in an excellent third for the first of Saturday’s races and showed good pace in finishing third. He was out of luck in the second race, when a breaker switch on the fuel pump malfunctioned and the 3,5-litre V6 engine died on him on the opening lap.
“We’re sure Marco would have put in another podium performance had it not been for the fuel pump problem,” said Philips.
Team-mate Darryn Lobb struggled most of the weekend in the second Tubular-backed Nissan 350Z. He crashed in qualifying, damaging the car’s suspension and setting up a late night session by the pit crew to get the car ready in time for Saturday’s races.
“I clipped the tyres placed on the edge of the circuit and dropped a wheel over the curb,” said a disappointed Lobb. “This sent the car hard into the wall. The technical guys did a great job and the car felt really good in the warm-up on Saturday morning. We only started 10th on the grid, so we were always in for a tough ride.
“Race two was much better after we made a few adjustments to the car between races. We managed to get up to sixth place from 11th halfway through the race, but I lost a bit of ground when I spun the car at the end of lap six and dropped a place. I was happy with fifth at the finish.”
“We’re quite satisfied with our overall performance this weekend,” said Philips. “We adapted well to the new 18-inch wheels that the class A cars are now running and managed to stay on the pace of the factory cars. Marco was just 0,06 sec off the fastest lap of the first race (a new lap record set by Anthony Taylor in the BMW 330i). The extra rubber on the road has given us more grip and means we can carry more speed out of the corners.
“We’re looking forward to the next round at Zwartkops on September 6,” he added.
